Losing Sight of the Shore
by Enthusiastic Fish
Summary: Part 3 of my AU Kate series (see note for details). Kate is six months into her special Agent Afloat assignment and finds a case that has her needing extra help from her land-based team. The only catch is that it happens in the middle of a violent storm. Thirteen chapters. Complete
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is the third story in my AU Kate series. The other two stories are _Sweeter Far Than Flowing Honey_ and _Having New Eyes_. It's not necessary to read those stories to get this one (although I'm really proud of how I rewrote the end of _Twilight_ to make it all work, but the basics are that Kate wasn't killed in _Twilight_. Ziva stopped Ari from killing her, and things progressed with Kate staying on the team. Ziva was added in later, so she's there, too. In this story, Kate has taken an Agent Afloat assignment and this mostly takes place after she's been at sea for six months. Yes, the rest of the team is there, too.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own NCIS or any of its characters, and I'm still not making money.

* * *

 **Losing Sight of the Shore  
** by Enthusiastic Fish

" _Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."  
_ _Andre Gide_

 **Chapter 1**

The ocean was always different. From one moment to the next, it was never the same. At the same time, the days could pass with it looking exactly like it had the day before. It was a paradox, but that was the ocean itself. A beautiful, dangerous, exciting paradox.

Kate inhaled deeply, smelling the salty air, feeling her hair blowing back behind her. She kept it in a ponytail most of the time, but sometimes, it was just nice to let it stream out free in the wind. After six months at sea, she could really understand why Stan loved it so much. At first, she had been reticent to walk around the ship, worried that she'd do something that would make her look silly, for fear of losing the respect of the sailors. As the Agent Afloat, she was keenly aware of her role as the sole investigator in the entire carrier group.

...but she had lost that worry after a few weeks. She was in a position of authority, and so far, had been treated with respect. So she had spent one of her days off walking through the entire carrier, investigating all the nooks and crannies she could find. She had got lost multiple times, but she was just wandering; so it didn't matter so much.

On deck, she found places where she could get an amazing view without being in anyone's way...a view like she had right now. There was the barest hint of clouds on the horizon and the only encumbrances to the horizon were the other ships in the carrier group. She would never have thought that such a sight would be beautiful to her...but it was.

"Agent Todd!"

She turned.

"Yes, Ensign?"

"The skipper needs you on the bridge."

Kate nodded in acknowledgment. The ensign turned and headed back to his post. Kate took only enough time to pull her hair back into its usual ponytail before following after him.

"Skipper?" she asked once she got onto the bridge.

Captain Warren Jones, the skipper, ran the HST like a well-oiled machine. The crew respected him, and he deserved it. He'd been assigned to the carrier for fifteen years and had a lot of experience. He looked up from a readout.

"Agent Todd."

"What is it?"

"The exercises have been cancelled."

"Why?"

He handed her the papers. It was a weather forecast. Kate grimaced. She didn't like what the Doppler was showing. Those deceptively distant clouds were more than a pretty view.

"That looks like a bad blow, Skipper."

"Yep. Came up too suddenly. Can't avoid it, but we can be smart and batten down the hatches."

"So...why tell me separately? You'll make an announcement to the whole ship. I could have learned then."

"The CMC has informed me that there could be some trouble."

"Paulson and Rossi, again?" Kate asked. The two petty officers had fallen out over a girl and had actually come to blows over her.

"Exactly."

"I thought they'd worked through that."

"So did I, but scuttlebutt says otherwise."

"What do you want to do about it? I can't punish them for the _potential_ of something going wrong. Scuttlebutt has gone astray before."

Capt. Jones smiled.

"Obviously. I want you to be aware of it. If we're shut down for a couple of days, this has the _potential_ to blow up out of proportion to the issue."

"Understood."

"While we're preparing for the storm, I don't anticipate any problems. Everyone will be too busy. It's while we're waiting for the storm to pass that I think we could run into a problem."

"Another fight between those two and they could get into more trouble than they want."

"I know that, and they're both good sailors. I'd hate to see them ruin their future in the Navy because of a girl. ...no offense, ma'am."

Kate smiled. "None taken."

"This'll be your first real experience with bad weather out here. You ready, Agent Todd?"

"I'm ready, Skipper."

"That'll be all, then. I'd recommend that you secure your quarters."

"Will do."

Kate left the bridge and headed for her only private space on the carrier. It was small, but she had it carefully organized and, since it was her own, she treasured it. Quickly, she secured her clothes and the few knick-knacks that she had brought with her. There were some photos taped to the wall above her desk. Mostly, they were NCIS pictures. She had pictures of all of her friends there, plus one of Stan. She'd also hung a framed family photo above her bed. She smiled at it and then took it down and put it in the drawers under her bed. Better safe than sorry.

After that, she went to her office and secured her space. Again, better safe than sorry. That was her mantra for a lot of things on the HST. It was better to stop problems before they started, before they could decide to _become_ problems. That brought her thoughts around to Paulson and Rossi again.

Kate decided to take some time to go through her notes again. The CMC was on top of scuttlebutt, but even he had been taken by surprise by the animosity that had suddenly arisen between the two men. She'd never liked it, but beyond the feeling that there must be something more to it than a fight over a girl, she'd had nothing to support her suspicions.

She looked at the notes she'd taken on the initial incident. Rossi had suddenly taken a swing at Paulson in the middle of the flight deck. Luckily, there had been no serious injuries, but they had both got into it. Paulson ended up with a black eye and a bloody nose. Rossi had ended up coming into close contact with the flight deck and had been knocked out. Both had been put in detention. Both had talked about a girl Rossi had been dating back home who had apparently made the switch to Paulson.

On a whim, she looked at the name of the girl they'd given: Deirdre Lee Mason. Ideally, she could look up this woman herself, but the Internet connections weren't always the best, and with communications among all the ships in the group, it could easily become difficult to make those connections.

Then, she smiled to herself. What better excuse to contact NCIS than to ask someone to look some information up for her? Kate knew she didn't really _need_ an excuse, but she didn't want to abuse her position by taking up bandwidth chatting, particularly when the sailors had to wait in line to contact their families.

But if she was going to do this, she'd better get it done before the storm hit.

Decision made, she headed for the Communications Department. She waved to a couple of the men on duty. They knew her. There was a space available and so she sat down and dialed one of the numbers she knew very well. She would have been happy to call anyone back at headquarters, but she did have a specific request in mind.

The phone rang and rang and rang. She was about to assume that no one was around.

" _Agent McGee's desk. This is Officer David."_

"Ziva!" Kate said in surprise. "Where's Tim?"

" _He is down with Abby. What is it?"_

"I need to get some information."

" _About what? Perhaps I can help?"_

"You probably could, although I didn't think you enjoyed computer searches very much," Kate said with a smile.

Ziva chuckled.

" _No, I do not. I have threatened to kill my computer more than once, but if it is not complicated..."_

"It's not, actually. I just need to get some information about a woman by the name of Deirdre Lee Mason. She should be somewhere around Norfolk."

" _What is it that you are wanting?"_

"I have two sailors, Craig Rossi and Quint Paulson who were apparently fighting over her, but something doesn't feel right to me, something about their stories doesn't work. If I'm wrong, fine, but scuttlebutt is saying that these two might be going at it again, and I don't want that to happen."

" _I will look."_

"Thanks, Ziva. We've got a storm headed our way; so you may not be able to get through. It's not a huge rush, but whatever you can find."

" _Do not fall off the boat."_

Kate laughed. "I won't. Bye."

She disconnected and went out on deck again. Off in the distance, she could see the clouds. They stretched out as far as she could see.

The storm was coming, and that meant some rough seas and no port in sight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Ziva hung up and looked at the name. Yes, she could do a simple search, but the computers that seemed to function so perfectly for Tim and Abby did not seem to like her.

Besides, if she went down and joined the others in the lab, she could make them jealous that she was the one present when Kate had called.

They all missed Kate, including Ziva herself. It wasn't that they couldn't make it without her there, but it was requiring certain _adjustments_ without Kate's personality there to act as a counterpoint to Tony. Ziva herself missed Kate's friendship, although the others were wonderful and Tim had become a very good friend to her. Still, Kate had been the first to welcome Ziva and the first to accept her.

Sometimes, Ziva found it interesting that she feel such a bond to someone whose life was so different from her own. If Kate hadn't been there...

Shaking herself, she got on the elevator and headed down to the lab. The elevator doors opened, revealing Tony and Tim just getting ready to get on.

Tim fell back a step.

"Ziva! I thought you were upstairs," he said.

"I was. I am now here."

"Smooth, Probie," Tony said. "What brings you down to Abby's domain, Officer David?"

"Kate called and asked for some information."

"Ah, man! She called _you_? Why? I think she's trying to avoid me," Tony said, pouting. "The party wasn't _that_ bad! She said she had fun!"

"Actually, she called McGee," Ziva said with a wink at Tim.

Tim blushed. It was too easy.

"McGee! What?"

Finally, Ziva got on topic.

"She wanted to get some information about a woman two of the sailors on the HST are fighting over. I was coming to ask for Abby's help."

"We could do it," Tim said.

"Yes, you could, but I am going to ask for Abby's help," Ziva said. "You and Tony still have to write your reports before Gibbs gets back."

"Oh, don't remind me," Tony groaned.

"I don't _need_ to be reminded. That's why we were down here," Tim said.

"Yes, I know. You only have an hour."

"Then, I guess we should get to work, huh, Probie," Tony said.

" _I_ don't want a head slap."

"Me, neither."

Ziva eased between them and headed for the lab, relieved that she had not been involved in the case that Tony and Tim had been. It had been a complicated one with a lot of computer work. Because of the classified nature of the work involved, Ziva had been forced to stand back and not investigate. She had the feeling that Vance still wasn't sure of her. Besides that, she was also thinking that her father had probably been talking to him.

"Abby?" she called as she walked into the lab.

"What?" Abby shouted back over her music.

"I need to talk to you! Can you turn down the music?"

Abby dashed by Ziva and the volume decreased significantly.

"What is it? I just got done helping save Tony's and Tim's butts on the last case."

"My butt does not need saving, but Kate called and wanted some information."

"Oh! Can I be there when you call her back?"

Ziva smiled.

"If you can help, yes."

"Then, tell me what you want!"

"Everything you can find about a woman named Deirdre Lee Mason who lives in or near Norfolk."

"Sounds nice and simple."

Abby started working and Ziva perched on a stool to wait. She had nothing to do until Gibbs decided that she was allowed back to work. It was kind of frustrating sometimes, but she could acknowledge that it was going to take time to get used to her presence...if she could only stay long enough for that. After about an hour, Abby's brow furrowed.

"What is it?"

"No Deirdre Lee Mason in Norfolk. Or near Norfolk. Or in Virginia at all. The closest Deirdre Mason is in New Jersey, and that's not a Deirdre _Lee_ Mason. So...whoever this woman is she's not in Norfolk. What about the men fighting over her?"

"Quint Paulson and Craig Rossi. They are serving on the HST."

"Well, they should be easy to find."

Abby furrowed her brow again and did some more searching.

"No Deirdre Lee Mason in conjunction with Paulson or Rossi, not in their hometowns and not at Norfolk...at least not in what I can find in the records. So...either she's not local or she exists only in their minds."

"Perhaps." Ziva furrowed her brow as well. "I do not like this. Why would these men _both_ have made up a person to explain a fight?"

"They could get in trouble if it was something else...maybe something illegal?"

"Yes, maybe." Ziva was bothered, though. It should have been simple and it was far from simple.

"So...do you want me to try something else?"

"I will call Kate and ask."

"Oooo! Call her from here! I want to talk to her, too!"

Ziva smiled.

"Very well."

"You like talking to Kate, too, Ziva," Abby said. "Don't pretend to be so...distant."

Ziva contented herself with simply continuing to smile while she called back to the carrier, hoping that there wouldn't be a problem with it. Abby had no idea how much Ziva missed Kate. Her first friend here in DC and someone she had counted on to give advice when she needed it. It wasn't that Kate was her only friend, but she had been the first and that gave a connection Ziva was loath to give up.

When she got hold of the carrier, she was put on hold while they tracked Kate down.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The wind had definitely picked up. The sea was choppy and getting worse. This was going to be bad. If she had seen it her first days on the carrier, Kate would have been afraid that they'd capsize, but she knew that it took a lot more than a strong storm to topple a carrier.

Everything on deck that couldn't be removed had been secured and there were sailors running all over the carrier double checking all the ropes.

" _Agent Todd, please report to the communications center. Agent Todd."_

That must be Ziva calling back about Deirdre Lee Mason. She hurried to hear what Ziva had found. This might have to wait until the storm was over to investigate thoroughly, but it would be a good idea to have something to think about while everyone else was busy with keeping the carrier shipshape.

"Don't take too long, Agent Todd," the officer on duty said. "With this storm, we could lose the connection and we're needing all the lines we have to keep in contact with the rest of the group."

"Understood."

Kate sat down and connected.

"Ziva?"

" _Kate! How could you forget me?"_

Kate laughed.

"Abby, I didn't know you'd be there. I expected Ziva."

" _I am here, too."_

"Good. I can't talk long. We've got a big storm coming and they need the line. What did you find?"

" _It is what we did_ not _find."_

"Meaning?"

" _Meaning that there's no record of a Deirdre Lee Mason anywhere near your sailors,"_ Abby said excitedly. _"She's either international or..."_

"Or made up," Kate finished. "That's what I'd started to wonder. There has to be more going on here than a fight over a woman."

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Kate looked up and over at the officer. He seemed as surprised as she was. There was nothing to indicate a need for a special alarm. The storm looked to be bad, yes, but not _that_ bad. It wasn't a hurricane or anything. The carrier was more than capable of riding it out.

" _All hands, report to your posts. Brace for impact."_

The warning was repeated multiple times.

" _Kate? Kate?"_ Abby asked. She sounded worried.

"Going to have to call you back," Kate said quickly and hung up. Her investigation was momentarily forgotten. She looked at the officer again. He was apparently getting information and the other sailors on duty were suddenly very active at their posts. She waited for a chance to know what had happened.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Rogue wave. Headed right for us. We don't have time to turn."

"How big?" Kate asked.

"Hard to tell. Close to 100 feet, though."

Kate felt her stomach twist in fear. She'd heard of the rogue waves that would appear out of nowhere, larger than any wave had a right to be outside of a tsunami. More than one ship had supposedly gone down due to being hit by such a wave. Perhaps her fear showed on her face because the officer smiled.

"We won't capsize, not with our size, but I'll bet we'll have a few sailors losing their lunch when it hits."

"What about the smaller ships?"

He sobered. "There's a chance it could hit them wrong."

"How long?"

"Two minutes."

Kate considered. Her job, when it came to situations like this, was to stay out of the way and help where she was needed. There was nothing she could contribute during a storm, but there was a part of her that really wanted to see this. She'd probably never get the chance again.

"You have time to get to the bridge, but I'd stay inside rather than go on deck. We don't want you washed overboard."

"Definitely not," Kate agreed, but then, she hurried out of the center and headed for the bridge. She would stay out of the way, but she wanted to see what this was.

She got there and saw the nonstop activity as they prepared for what might happen when the wave hit. The skipper saw her and actually flashed her a brief smile, knowing exactly why she was there. She smiled back and found a spot where she could see out the windows without getting in the way of anyone who was actually working.

Then, she saw it. A wave coming right at them. That was more than 100 feet. How much more, she couldn't say. It was like they were headed for a wall with a deep hole right in front. Kate's heart was in her throat.

The wave got closer and closer and then hit the carrier. Water covered the windows, in spite of the wipers going top speed. Then, she felt the tilt and tried to tell herself that it would take something a lot more than a wave to capsize the HST. It was too big, too stable. Nothing short of a nuke was going to take it down.

...but at the same time, the tilt seemed to go on forever. She was afraid, and she could admit it (to herself, at least).

Then, finally, the carrier began to right itself. The windows began to clear and they could see out onto the flight deck again. There was more than a little motion back and forth as the HST recovered from the massive wave. Only Kate's pride kept her from feeling more than a little woozy.

"Wow," she whispered.

The water was streaming off the deck in all directions. Items that had been lashed in place were no longer fully-secured.

Instantly, the brief silence that had reigned during the impact from the rogue wave was broken. The skipper began issuing orders. Officers and sailors alike began moving again. There was still a carrier group to command and that wave could have swamped some of the smaller ships.

"Skipper! The _Toka_ was overwhelmed! She's starting to capsize!"

The _Toka_ was their AOE, carrying the ammo and other supplies for the group. If it sank, it would be a major loss.

"Is the crew getting off?" the skipper asked as he moved to the window to see if he could spy the ship himself.

"The Larson is reporting men in the water. They've already got boats out, but the sea is really rough."

"Get the _Freeman_ and the _Pocatello_ over to help with the rescue."

"Yes, sir."

Kate looked out at the sea. She could see the capsized supply ship and, if she squinted, the people in the water. Coordinating the rescue happened quickly, but getting everything under control took much longer. Some of the men in the water were floating for three hours or more before getting pulled out. The rogue wave had been shocking and a complete surprise, but it wasn't the end of it. The rain was pouring down. The wind had whipped up the waves to dangerous heights. It just made everything more difficult.

...and the storm had only just begun.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The connection, once lost, couldn't be regained. Ziva tried redialing a couple of times but then gave up. Abby was fretting, as Abby tended to do.

"What's going on? Why did she hang up so fast? What if something happened? There was a warning. I could hear it over the phone!"

"She said there was a storm," Ziva said, intentionally being as calm as possible. "There may have been things to do."

"But she sounded stressed!"

"Of course. It is her first storm at sea."

"Ziva!"

"Yes, Abby?"

Abby came very close to stomping her foot.

"I'm worried about Kate! Aren't you?"

"Not particularly. If there is a storm, an aircraft carrier is probably the safest place she could be."

"Then, _why_ would there be a warning?" Abby asked.

"Abby, I am not there. I cannot tell you what is happening. All I know is that Kate will not be helped by your worrying. She will be more helped if we can find something more about the question she asked. She said she would call back later."

Abby sighed. "I want her to come back. I don't want people to disappear."

"People leave," Ziva said. "You are in the wrong job if that is all you can think of."

Then, she walked out of the lab. The last thing she needed was to be brought into a state of worry by Abby's reaction to things not being smooth all the time. There was too much to worry about as it was. Kate would be safer on the carrier in the middle of the ocean than she would be in a storm near the shore.

After the last time she had spoken to her father and heard his increasingly-demanding urgings that she leave NCIS and return to Israel, she was worried that Director Vance would listen to him and eliminate her position. She knew why the position existed. Shortly before she had stepped down as Assistant Director, Jenny had somehow persuaded Vance to give her a space here.

It had been like seeing a new world, one without the kinds of gray areas she had grown up experiencing. She had seen what life could be like and she didn't want to give it up, no matter how awkward she still felt on occasion.

The elevator doors opened and she walked to her desk.

"Did you get everything done?"

She looked over and saw Tim staring at her with a raised eyebrow. Tony wasn't there.

"Everything?"

Tim smiled. "Well, not _everything_ everything, but whatever Kate needed you to do?"

"Not quite. There was a disconnection. She told us that there was a storm coming to the carrier group."

Tim nodded although he said nothing about whatever worries he might harbor about Kate's safety. In fact, while he had clearly missed her, Tim had actually approached Kate's Agent Afloat assignment with a serenity that Ziva was jealous of. She herself had not shown her own feelings about it, but Tim wasn't one to hide things well if the possibility of worry were known to exist. For him to not show any uncertainty about Kate meant that he _felt_ no uncertainty.

"Better out there than right on shore."

Which is what Ziva had been telling herself, but somehow, hearing Tim say it meant more...not that she'd admit to that.

"At least, for her," Tim added. "For me, give me solid ground every time."

Ziva chuckled at Tim's reference to his seasickness.

"Where is Tony?"

Tim grinned. "He's off to beg for proofreading services for our reports."

"For both of them?" Ziva asked. "I did not think he was so...altruistic."

"He's not. I promised him that I'd do all of the computer side of it, even the interviews if he got someone to make sure that we hadn't screwed anything up. We want this to be a one-draft report. It's been crazy and I'll be glad to get it done. We don't want Gibbs to have any excuse not to send it on."

"Who is Tony going to ask?"

Tim's grin widened. "Edna in Legal."

"He would not ask _her_ , would he?"

"She's the best," Tim said.

"On a good day. Gibbs made me ask her to go over my first report and she made me feel like I was insulting all of the United States because my grammar was poor."

Tim laughed.

"But we know that, if she approves, so will Gibbs."

"Better you than me."

"It's _not_ me. That's the best part. It's Tony." Tim cracked his neck. "So do you need any help with anything?"

"You do not want to bask in your laurels?"

"Rest on my laurels and no...because I don't have them yet."

Ziva smiled even as she suppressed a little frustration that she couldn't seem to grasp the subtleties of English idioms. Some of them were making sense to her now, but she still made mistakes.

"Well, I was going to try to find more information about two sailors Kate was wondering about, but I think the computers hate me."

"They're like dogs," Tim said. "They can sense fear. I'd be happy to help. Isn't that what Abby was doing?"

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Abby would rather worry about Kate than work."

"And you would rather work than worry. I get it."

Ziva raised her eyebrow. Tim just smiled.

"If you give me the names, I'll see what I can find. You can look, too. Many hands make light work."

"I would like your help," Ziva said.

She gave him the names, explained Kate's suspicions and they both started trying to find more information about Rossi and Paulson.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Rossi and Paulson couldn't be further from Kate's mind at the moment. Two ships had been damaged, but the _Toka_ had been wiped out by the rogue wave. They'd managed to get some of its cargo off, but much of it had been lost. Ten of its crew were still missing and feared drowned. Most of the others had some degree of injury, hypothermia or trauma. Because of the large numbers of injured, the HST had taken on quite a few of them. In addition, the height of the storm had hit. Some of the sailors on the HST had embarrassed themselves by getting seasick. Kate had been appropriated to help out in the medical center, and she'd been focused on that, although she wasn't really treating anyone.

She was schlepping, and at that thought, she couldn't help but smile and remember when she had first started working at NCIS. Gibbs had put her to work doing things she didn't really get, but she'd been excited at the prospect.

" _I get to do forensics?"_

" _No. You get to schlep for Abby."_

Schlepping had its charms, and Kate didn't mind it at all...mostly. Here, her work was helping the medical officers treat those who needed it. However, after the hours on her feet, she could admit that she was starting to tire, but she was determined to keep it up until she was released.

"Agent Todd?"

She was dealing with the unpleasant task of cleaning out the buckets that had been used by the seasick sailors. It was the worst of the schlepping she'd done.

"Agent Todd."

But it was a job that had to be done, and she wasn't going to complain. Agent Afloat or not, she'd do what was asked of her.

"Kate."

Finally, her name penetrated the tired determination and she looked up into the smiling face of Commander Wood, the officer over the medical center. He was nearing the end of a long naval career, and he'd always been quite congenial on the rare times she'd crossed paths with him. In a way, he reminded Kate of Ducky.

"Are you supposed to be speaking so informally?" she asked with a smile.

"You weren't responding to anything else."

"Sorry. What is it?"

"You're relieved of duty. It's past 0300. You should get some sleep. The major work is done. There's not the same press as there was before."

"Someone else gets to finish this, then?" Kate asked, pointing to the buckets.

"Absolutely. You've paid your dues."

"Wonderful."

Kate was glad to let go of her responsibility. As soon as she stood up, she yawned widely.

"Have you heard about how the storm is going? I haven't even been close to outdoors for hours."

"No more rogue waves, thank goodness, but it's still plenty rough out there. The only people on deck are the ones who have to be, but most of the stomachs are calm now."

"Good. So...how many are going to be completely embarrassed?"

Commander Wood chuckled.

"More than I would have thought, but I'm glad you're not one of them."

"It was close a few times," Kate confessed, "but I had to maintain appearances. Now, I'm going to go and fall onto my bed and enjoy not being on duty...and hopefully, no shaking."

"Go to it, Agent Todd."

Kate smiled and left the medical center, wanting only to sleep. It had been a very long day, probably the hardest day since she'd come on board. She made it back to her small room almost on autopilot. She had enough awareness to be grateful that the layout of the carrier was completely automatic in her mind now. She didn't have to worry about moving abeam or anything else. She got into her room, secured the door and took off her grimy, smelly clothes. Quickly, she pulled on some sweats and then got into bed, pausing only to note that she'd done well in making sure that all her possessions were stowed properly.

Then, she fell asleep.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Ensign Philip Johnson was avoiding as many of his fellow sailors as possible. He'd embarrassed himself more than once. The rogue wave had got him throwing up and then, the storm had kept him unsettled enough that he had only barely left the medical center. He'd never had a single problem with seasickness before.

Suddenly, it was like his stomach had realized that it wasn't on solid ground and decided it didn't like it. The slightest jolt made him feel queasy. Commander Wood, the medical officer on duty, had been sympathetic but had said that he'd likely feel better after he readjusted...whatever _that_ meant.

Still, he wasn't going to stay in the medical center a second longer than he had to, not when all he had was a rebellious stomach. He did hope that he'd be feeling better by the time he had to go on duty, though.

As he headed through to his bunk, hoping that he wouldn't get _too_ much razzing from his bunk mates, the carrier shook a little bit as a rough wave hit. Ensign Johnson grimaced and rubbed his stomach.

 _I will not throw up again,_ he told himself sternly.

Maybe a little fresh air would help. He hadn't been in the open since that morning. Yes, that might make him feel a little better, remind his stomach that he _liked_ the ocean.

Decision made, he headed for the nearest exit.

As he reached out to open the door, it suddenly burst in on him. He was thrown back against the bulkhead and someone rushed by him, in a major hurry.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" he shouted.

The man didn't even pause in his flight. Swearing under his breath, Ensign Johnson stepped out on deck and took a deep breath of the salty air. Plenty of spray in the air on a day like this. Some of the waves were coming close to him, but he wasn't worried about that. The railings were plenty high enough and he knew that it was extremely unlikely that another rogue wave could possibly hit them.

Besides, he really wanted some time out in the open before heading to his bunk.

He stood breathing contentedly for a few minutes, not even minding the rain, and then judged that he was settled enough to get to sleep in his bunk. He turned back toward the door, but stopped. There was a tarp that was definitely not where it should be. It'd get caught by a gust of wind and blow right off into the water. After the loss of the _Toka_ , they didn't need to lose anything or anyone else, not even a tarp.

So he walked over to it and tried to pull it out with the intention of folding it and stowing it properly.

It seemed to be caught on something...which meant it probably _wouldn't_ get blown off the carrier, but still, Ensign Johnson didn't like things out of place. It went against the grain for him. His bunk was always immaculate, and so was he.

He pulled again, and the tarp suddenly gave way.

But then, the tarp was forgotten, although he didn't drop it.

Ensign Johnson stared in shock at what the tarp had been covering.

There were two dead men on the deck. Their throats had been cut. He recognized them because of the fight they'd had in front of a lot of witnesses.

Rossi and Paulson.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The pounding dragged Kate out of pleasant dreams, and she groaned as she reluctantly woke up. She hadn't had _nearly_ enough sleep.

"Agent Todd!"

She didn't recognize the voice, but she got up quickly and opened the door, although she was yawning a bit.

"What is it...petty officer?" she asked.

"I'm sorry to wake you, ma'am, but the skipper told me to bring you on deck ASAP."

"What's wrong?"

"He said to bring you, ma'am."

She got it and nodded.

"Give me two minutes, petty officer. I'll be right out."

"Yes, ma'am."

She closed the door and quickly grabbed some clothes. This must be serious. The petty officer seemed upset and the skipper was asking for her presence. Hopefully, there hadn't been another ship lost. ...but if there had, it would hardly require _her_ presence. No, this was something else, and it probably meant she should bring along her nearly-omnipresent bag. Thankfully, she hadn't needed to use it so far. Her investigations had been much more mundane, but this seemed to warrant it.

She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and then opened the door.

"Lead the way, petty officer."

"Yes, ma'am."

He led her out onto the deck. The skipper was there. The CMC and Commander Wood were both on their knees beside a tarp that was flapping in the wind and rain. Standing just out of the rain was a sailor who looked like he wished he was lying down.

"What is it, skipper?" she asked.

Capt. Jones' expression was grave.

"Rossi and Paulson."

The fact that he was pointing to the deck told her basically what she'd see. She walked over and looked down.

The two sailors they'd been discussing before the storm had hit were dead. She could see right away that they were dead. Whatever blood had been shed had mostly been washed away by the storm, but the wounds on their necks were definitely fatal.

"Murder," she said softly.

Commander Wood nodded in agreement.

"I don't see how it could be anything else. Not with their throats cut."

"This isn't what I expected to come from the problems they'd been having," Kate said.

She opened her bag and pulled out a pair of gloves. Then, she pulled out a camera and began to document what she could see.

"How much have they been moved?" she asked.

"I shifted their heads when I got here," Commander Wood said. "Verifying that they were dead. Nothing more. Ensign?"

Kate looked up. Ensign Johnson looked more than a little unstable.

"Feeling all right, Ensign?" she asked, suppressing a smile.

"Yes, ma'am," he said quickly.

"Good. Did you move them?"

"I moved the tarp. It was...tucked around the...bodies, ma'am. I'm sure that they were moved by what I did, but I didn't know they were there! I was just...moving something that was in the wrong place."

"Understood. This tarp?" she asked, pointing to the one still flapping in the wind.

"Yes, ma'am."

"All right. Is there anything else you can tell me?"

Ensign Johnson nodded. Kate stood up quickly.

"What?"

"I was walking to the deck. I'd been in the medical center and...I was...throwing up. I wanted some air."

"I understand," Kate said with a sympathetic smile.

"I was just about to open the door and someone else opened it from the other side."

"Who?"

"I didn't get a look. The person was running and I hit the bulkhead pretty hard. I yelled after him, but I didn't bother chasing him. I figured it was someone who had just realized that he was supposed to be on duty. I went out and took a breath. Then, I saw the tarp. I didn't want it blowing overboard. I tried to pick it up, but it was stuck. I pulled harder and it came loose...and I saw Rossi and Paulson."

"You knew them?"

"I was on duty when they had their fight. So I recognized them from that. I didn't really do anything with them."

"Anything else you can tell me?"

Ensign Johnson started thinking about it. He was clearly taking his time, going through everything he'd seen. Kate appreciated that. She didn't know the ensign, but he seemed to be a careful thinker.

"They were definitely dead when I saw them. I had no doubt of that." He paused again. "The person was...shorter than me, I think. I didn't get a good look, but I'm pretty tall and I'm almost positive that he wasn't as tall as I am." Another pause. "I don't think he had anything in his hands when he passed me. I'm pretty sure his hands were empty."

"Did you notice anything about his clothing?" Kate asked.

"I didn't notice anything standing out as different, and I think I would have since I was annoyed."

"So he was probably in uniform."

"I can't say for sure, but he definitely wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary."

"All right. Thank you, Ensign."

"It should go without saying, but I don't want to hear that you've been talking about this to anyone, Ensign Johnson," the CMC said sternly.

"Yes, Chief. I really just wanted to get to my bunk. I'm on duty in four hours."

"Then, do it."

"Thank you, Chief."

Ensign Johnson left the deck, and Kate knelt back down beside Commander Wood.

"This just isn't the best thing to be happening right now," she said.

"Is murder _ever_ happening at the right time?"

"No, but sometimes, it's more convenient. There's too much _I_ can't do with what's available here." She stood up. "Skipper, I can't conduct a proper murder investigation on my own. I don't have the resources. I don't have the equipment necessary."

"What do you suggest?"

"Either we have to put the investigation on hold until the storm is over or we get to port...or we get an MCRT out here during the storm to investigate."

" _During_ the storm? That's going to be difficult, Agent Todd. We're in no danger of capsizing, but the rough seas mean rough landings for _any_ aircraft. It could be dangerous."

"I understand, skipper, but those are really our options. I have some equipment, but not much. I can interview people, but I can't process evidence, and with these bodies exposed on deck for who knows how long, we're going to need every possible advantage we can get to figure out who it was that killed Rossi and Paulson. ...and if we wait until we get to port..."

She didn't need to finish.

"Whoever the guilty party is could conceivably escape," the skipper said. "The closer we get to shore, the more likely it will be."

"And once the storm is over, it's more likely that whoever it is could get away even before we get to port."

"I see your point."

Kate didn't want to create any friction between herself and the skipper with this.

"I'll do my best regardless of your decision. If you want to wait, I'll gather as much evidence for processing as I can and start the investigation."

"What needs to be done, regardless of the decision?"

"I need to finish up documenting things here and then we need to get them off the deck and out of the rain before we lose whatever evidence there still is."

"Do it."

"Can I have Commander Wood help me out?"

"Yes... Commander?"

"We've caught up and most of the sailors are getting their sea legs back," Commander Wood said with a smile and a bit of a twinkle in his eye. "I'm happy to help."

Captain Jones nodded to the doctor and then left the deck without giving Kate his answer. She figured he had to weigh his options. She knew that there was danger in bringing someone in at this point, and she knew that the storm would likely blow itself out in another couple of days, but every moment lost was making the trail cold, and with this storm, they were starting out with the trail lukewarm, at best.

Still, it was best to get going.

"What do you need from me, Agent Todd?"

"I don't suppose you have a liver probe?"

Commander Wood chuckled. "I don't tend to need that kind of equipment. My patients are alive when I see them."

"Yeah. I figured."

"We'll just have to do our best. I don't see any sign of lividity, but that could be because Ensign Johnson disturbed the bodies. It could be because not enough time has passed, or it could be because of the weather. I'll get a couple of body bags up here and we'll move them to...storage."

Kate nodded. She continued documenting the area while the doctor moved to call for assistance. Only belatedly, Kate realized that the CMC had stayed behind. Since she would have been alone on deck while Commander Wood was getting things organized, she was glad for his presence, although there'd been some friction between the two of them from day one. Oh, it wasn't overt, but Kate had noticed that CMC Easton didn't feel comfortable in her presence. She didn't know if it was because she was female or because she was relatively new to this position...or something else entirely, but he'd been professional on the outside and she had chosen to reciprocate rather than point out the issue.

"Did you have any indication of this?" she asked as she worked.

"None, ma'am. There was no reason to suspect murder. They barely spoke to each other."

"The skipper said that you had indicated there might be trouble brewing. Why did you think that?"

"Because some of their bunkmates had noticed tensions rising and reported that to me, ma'am. I reported it to the skipper, but I had no indication of murder."

"Well, they aren't likely to have killed each other, and we already know there was a third person here. Whether that person was another sailor who saw them dead and panicked or the killer himself, there was at least one extra body out here."

The CMC said nothing. That was fine. Kate hadn't asked a question, but this was when she missed having a team to work with. It was harder when she didn't have anyone to bounce ideas off of, no one to point out other things she might have missed. It was another argument for getting the MCRT out here.

However, she didn't say anything about that. For one thing, CMC Easton might take it as a criticism of the skipper and for another, Kate trusted the skipper to make the right decision based on the needs of the entire group, not just this investigation. Instead, she got out a large evidence bag and carefully stowed the tarp in it. She wasn't hopeful that anything would have been preserved on it, but there was always a chance, and she could hear Gibbs berating her if she didn't bother based on an assumption.

After a few minutes, Commander Wood returned.

"Try to disturb them as little as possible," Kate said. "There could be evidence on them that the rain didn't wash away."

"Understood, Agent Todd."

She watched as the doctor and one of his staff placed Rossi and Paulson into body bags.

"I'll make sure they get stored appropriately," Commander Wood said.

"Thank you."

After they were gone, Kate turned her attention to the space itself. She'd already documented most of the area, but she wanted to see if there was something else.

"Agent Todd?"

"Yes?"

She didn't turn from her task.

"May I ask what more you have to do?"

"I have to go over this entire space to see if there's anything I missed."

"You've already been here for a couple of hours."

"And I'll probably be here for a couple more," Kate said. "I don't leave a job half-done...and it's half-done right now."

"Yes, ma'am."

Kate kept herself from rolling her eyes. She appreciated that the CMC was staying there to make sure she wasn't working alone, but still his presence was a bit overbearing.

She continued her work until she found something.

She didn't know if it was _really_ something, but she was willing to try it out.

It was a piece of fabric. Small, some blue. Could be from a uniform.

Kate smiled and carefully placed it in an evidence bag.

Then, she finished up.

"Now, I'm done, Chief," she said.

There might have been the ghost of a smile on his face, but that was all. He was wet. So was she, but there was nothing wrong with being a little wet. She gathered up everything and headed back inside. The CMC walked with her all the way to her office and then left her without a word.

Kate sat down and began to think about what had happened and why.

And she waited for the skipper to make his decision.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Gibbs' phone rang.

"Gibbs," he said.

" _Agent Gibbs, Director Vance would like you to join him in MTAC."_

"Right away?"

" _Unless you have something else pressing."_

Gibbs hung up and headed to MTAC, ignoring the curious expressions on the faces of his team. Ziva and Tim had compiled quite a bit of information on the sailors Kate had asked about, but they hadn't been able to get a hold of her since the storm had hit. Covertly, Gibbs had checked the storm. The HST was right in the middle of it. It had slowed down, unfortunately, and that meant it was going to take longer for them to get out of it. He hadn't said anything, but he was worried about the storm, not because he thought the HST would capsize. It would take something a lot bigger than an Atlantic storm to knock over a carrier. It was just that Kate was part of his team.

As he got to MTAC, he hoped that Kate would contact them sooner rather than later.

Vance glanced at him as he headed down the steps.

"Here he is, Captain Jones."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"Captain?" he asked.

The man on the screen looked a little bit harried.

" _Agent Gibbs. I'm the skipper of the HST."_

"What do you need, skipper?" Gibbs asked, wondering why he would be asked for...especially since Kate was _not_ present. "I hear you're in the middle of a storm."

" _We are, and we've had more than our share of problems. The reason I'm contacting you, though, is because we've had a double homicide on the carrier."_

"Double?" Gibbs asked.

" _Two of my sailors were found on deck with their throats cut. Agent Todd has begun the investigation, but she has informed me that she needs help in figuring out who has committed this crime. The problem is that this been a bad blow. The seas are extremely rough and it looks to stay that way for the next two days. Initially, we'd hoped to have maybe two days total, but the weather is not cooperating. Any landing on the carrier will have some extra risk attached. The storm is going to make the approach more difficult."_

"What are you requesting, Captain Jones?" Vance asked.

" _If you approve, Director, I would like to ask for an MCRT to fly over here and investigate. The danger in delaying is that the trail will go cold or that the perpetrator could escape before we get to port. There's a risk either way. Agent Todd is amenable to either choice, but I know she feels that she can't do as much as may be necessary without some extra help."_

"Would you want an entire MCRT?"

" _Whoever you could spare. Obviously, with the storm the way it is, getting in and out will be more difficult. It would be hard to send any evidence ashore."_

"Meaning that you'd want us to do everything there?" Gibbs asked.

" _As much as was possible. It will be dangerous to fly back and forth until the seas settle."_

Vance looked at Gibbs.

"I'm leaving this up to you to decide, Agent Gibbs. If you're willing we'll make the arrangements."

"We're willing. I'd like to bring Dr. Mallard along."

Vance raised his eyebrows mutely.

"If we can't send anything back once we're there, having the M.E. along would be useful."

Vance looked at Gibbs and then back at the screen.

"Captain Jones, we will get the MCRT underway as soon as possible."

" _There's a C-2 at Norfolk. It was supposed to be bringing supplies to the group, but since nothing was considered vital, we decided to delay the shipment until the storm passed. To be honest, we could use the supplies as well. The_ Toka _, our supply ship, capsized."_

Vance looked startled. "How?"

" _We had a rogue wave, Director. Knocked us for a loop. There were injuries and damages to a number of ships, but the_ Toka _couldn't withstand the force. She was hit just wrong. We lost ten men and most of what she was carrying."_

"How high was the wave?" Gibbs asked, mostly out of curiosity.

" _We didn't get an exact measurement, but the water covered the windows on the bridge."_

That would put it well over 100 feet, Gibbs realized.

"And the murder happened in the midst of all that?"

" _Near as we can tell so far."_

"We'll be there ASAP," Gibbs said.

" _Thank you, Agent Gibbs. Agent Todd will likely be grateful for the assistance as well."_

Vance suppressed a smile.

"I'm sure she will appreciate the presence of the MCRT. I'll give you the ETA as soon as they leave."

" _Thank you, Director."_

Captain Jones looked to the side and his expression suddenly became concerned.

" _When?"_

An unintelligible reply.

" _She's all right?"_

"Skipper?" Gibbs asked.

" _Get here as quickly as you can, Agent Gibbs. Apparently, our killer isn't done. Agent Todd was attacked."_

"What?"

" _She's fine, but I don't have the details. I will by the time you get here."_

"You have her protected?"

" _Of course."_

Gibbs suppressed his own worry.

" _I need to look into this, Agent Gibbs."_

"Of course," Vance said before Gibbs could speak. "We'll get the team out there."

Captain Jones nodded and then the colored bars took the place of his face.

Gibbs instantly turned on his heel and headed for the door.

"Agent Gibbs!" Vance said.

Gibbs turned back and raised an eyebrow.

"Good luck. Watch your six."

"Not _my_ six I'm worried about," Gibbs said and hurried out.

He ran down the stairs to the bullpen. Tony, Tim and Ziva were all at their desks.

"Pack a bag and be ready to leave in twenty minutes."

"Where are we going, Boss?" Tony asked.

"The HST. Two sailors were killed and Kate's asked for our help." He paused. Should he tell them right now? Might as well. They could get their overreactions out right away instead of when they got to the carrier. "And Kate was apparently attacked."

There was some pleasant, albeit shocked, silence. Gibbs took that opportunity to get on the elevator and head down to Autopsy.

His timing was good. Ducky and Jimmy had apparently just finished an autopsy and Jimmy was wheeling the body into the freezer.

"Jethro, what can I do for you? My latest customer was from Agent Lovitz, not from you."

"I need you to pack a bag. There was a murder out on the HST and Kate needs help with the investigation."

"Of course, but why am I coming along? That's not a usual request."

"The storm's pretty bad and the skipper doesn't want to have to worry about more than one safe landing. They've already lost a ship from the group."

"Oh, dear. Will I be expected to perform an autopsy on board?"

"Not sure. They did specifically asked for the M.E. to come along."

"Then, I'll be as prepared as possible. How long do I have?"

Gibbs looked at his watch.

"Fifteen minutes."

"Then, I will be quick."

Gibbs smiled.

"Are you going to take Abigail along as well?"

"No. She can't bring her machines with her, and she doesn't have anyone to sub for her at such short notice. Anything we need her to do will have to wait until we can get it to her here."

"Will _you_ be telling her that?"

Gibbs just smiled and left Ducky to his preparations. He would have to tell Abby before they went. She'd complain and he couldn't just leave it to anyone else. So, another elevator ride to the lab.

The music was loud and screaming. He walked into the office and turned it down.

"Hey! Who touched my music?" Abby shouted.

She came over.

"What's up, Gibbs?"

"We're going to the HST. There was a double murder and Kate asked for help with the investigation."

"So she's okay?" Abby asked. "I'm so glad! I've been trying and trying to call her, but no one has answered and I was so worried about the storm!"

She hugged him and then crafted a fake look of hope on her face.

"Do I get to come?"

"No, Abbs."

Abby pouted as only Abby could do.

"That's not fair!"

"We need you here."

"Well...I guess I can't take Major Mass Spec with me to the middle of the ocean, but you'd better let me talk to Kate while you're there."

"We'll have evidence for you."

"Can I keep Tim with me?"

Gibbs just shook his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay. It's not fair, though."

Gibbs kissed her cheek and left the lab. Privately, he was relieved that he'd managed to avoid mentioning what little he knew about Kate having been attacked. Abby would _not_ have taken that calmly. As it was, she was just pouting about being left behind.

He grabbed a bag, met up with the others and they began the drive to Norfolk.

...all the while wondering just what had happened to Kate.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Kate looked around at the mess of her office and grimaced. She'd never been so grateful for being overly cautious. She'd kept her bag with her after leaving the crime scene...which had likely led to the attempted attack.

"Are you sure that you're all right, Agent Todd?"

She nodded without looking away from the mess. The CMC had taken up guard duty since the attack.

"I'm fine. Why were you there?"

"You left one of your bags on deck. You sure you're all right?"

"Positive. Thank you."

"Did you get a look?"

"No. It came from behind. I'm not sure if I interrupted him when he was doing this or if he was running already. I wasn't even going in right then, though. I wanted to see what the skipper had decided."

Kate looked at her scraped up palms and couldn't help but smile a little.

"The first time I've fallen over the knee-knockers."

"I told the skipper about what happened."

"How? You've barely left my side for the last hour, not even when Commander Wood was checking me out," Kate said.

"I sent a messenger."

"Oh."

Kate found it impossible to look away from the sight of the destruction of her space. She had so little space of her own. This hadn't been malicious, really. There was a kind of systematic pattern to what had been done. She had no idea what the invader had been looking for, but there was intent here.

She heard someone come up behind her and she tensed, but relaxed when the CMC started speaking in a low tone to someone else.

"Agent Todd, the skipper would like to speak with you."

"Of course."

Finally, Kate forced herself to look away from the office. She squared her shoulders and met the CMC's gaze directly.

"I'd like to have this space locked down. It's possible that there could be fingerprints or DNA or some other kind of evidence left behind. Clearly, the culprit was in a hurry."

"Yes, ma'am. Ensign Cole will stand guard."

"Yes, Chief," the ensign said, instantly.

"Thank you."

The CMC gestured and Kate walked with him away from the office and to the skipper's private office.

"Agent Todd, you're all right?"

"Yes, skipper," she said. "I'm fine. I got knocked over, lost a bit of skin." She held up her hands. "No permanent damage, but my office has also been invaded."

The skipper sat down and gestured for her to do the same. The CMC remained standing.

"What happened?"

Kate took a breath. "After Chief Easton left me at my office, I decided to go to my quarters first before I started thinking through everything. I was feeling a little paranoid; so I took my evidence bag with me. I was in my quarters for about an hour."

"Doing what, if you don't mind my asking."

Kate felt a little embarrassed, but it wasn't as though she was really hiding anything.

"I sometimes think more clearly after I spend time sketching. I decided to draw the crime scene as I could remember it while the details were fresh in my head. I had photographs, but it helps to get a real feel for the space. Not as accurate as if I'd done it right there, but close enough. After I sketched the scene, I decided to go back to my office, but once I was almost there, I thought that it was possible you'd made your decision and I wanted to find out. I turned to come up to the bridge, and someone came at me from behind, knocked me down. I don't know if he would have done more given the opportunity, but the CMC was there and he ran. I didn't get a look at him and I didn't see where he went."

"Chief?" the skipper asked.

"Headed aft, but I did not pursue."

"Understood."

"The CMC insisted that I have Commander Wood check me out. I was fine. When we came back to my office, we found that it had been ransacked by unknown persons. It was a planned search. Whoever did it was looking for something. He wasn't just trying to destroy."

"Did he find it?" the skipper asked.

"I don't know. I haven't had a chance to look through everything there."

The skipper nodded.

"Well, you won't be working on this alone. I've made arrangements for the MCRT headed by Agent Gibbs to come to the carrier. They should be here in a few hours. With the storm stalling, we may have more of this than we'd like."

"I'm glad they're coming. Thank you, skipper."

"I'm glad now, more than before. Until they get here, you are not to be alone. Since we don't know if you were the target or if it was just something in your office, I don't want to take the chance."

Kate groaned inwardly. She did _not_ want a shadow, especially if it was the CMC.

"All right, skipper."

"Chief, assign one of the seamen to a security detail for Agent Todd. Have him report here, ASAP."

"Yes, sir."

The CMC left and Kate suppressed letting out a sigh of relief, but the skipper must have caught her slight relaxation.

"He means well."

"I know, but I wish he didn't mean well so stiffly. Is it me or is it him?"

"Probably a combination of both, to be honest. He's unsure of having a female Agent Afloat, but he's extremely conscious of his own position. He'll work it out, eventually, and he won't let his own conflicted feelings out to the crew. You're a lot more tolerant of him than I thought you'd be, but I figured you might enjoy a respite from his concern."

"I would, thank you."

"Agent Todd, when I warned you about Rossi and Paulson, I had no idea it would get this big."

"Neither did I, skipper."

"It's even worse that it happened during this storm. I have an entire carrier group to worry about, and even a murder has to take second place to that."

"I understand, and I'm grateful that you're bringing the MCRT out here."

"When they get here, be sure you keep me apprised of what you find. I want to know who killed them and why. It can't be a coincidence that it's those two men who were killed."

"I agree," Kate said seriously. "We'll figure it out. Once Agent Gibbs starts something, he doesn't stop until it's finished."

The skipper stood.

"A quality he obviously passed on to you."

Kate smiled.

"You'd better believe it."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Whose great idea was it to land on a carrier in the middle of a storm?" Tony shouted over the roar of the engines.

"I could have left you back with Abby, DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted back.

"And have her fretting over my shoulder? No way!"

There was no reply, but the relative silence might as well have been filled with Gibbs telling Tony to shut up.

"And Kate was all right, wasn't she?" he asked.

"That's what the skipper said."

"Ducky, you all right?" Tony shouted.

"It's a bit bumpier than I remember, Anthony, but I'm fine!"

"Probie?"

"What?" Tim's eyes were closed.

"You all drugged up?"

"Yes! For what it's worth...and I don't know how much it will be!"

"Why did you come then?"

"I was told to!"

Tony grinned. There was another reason. Tim missed Kate just like they all did...even if he had been strangely accepting of her departure.

Finally, they were on final approach. After a rough touchdown, they were yanked to a sudden stop. Tony was pretty sure that was the roughest landing he'd ever experienced in his whole life.

Tim sighed with relief.

"You survived landing, Probie," Tony said.

"Now, I have to survive the ship," he said. "Last time wasn't so pleasant."

"At least it's not haunted this time," Tony said, grinning.

"It wasn't haunted the last time, either."

They all got up and headed for the exit. The rain was still falling and it was windy, but they all ignored that. Standing just under cover was Kate. She was smiling at them.

Tony nudged Ziva and pointed. He watched as Ziva walked over to Kate and hugged her. Considering the fact that Ziva wasn't big into that kind of physical contact, he found it interesting that she was always so comfortable around Kate.

He and Tim grabbed the gear and walked over.

"Hey," Kate said. "It's so great to see you all!"

"You all right?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine, Gibbs. Just a couple of scrapes. I'm more interested in figuring out who killed Rossi and Paulson. Ducky, Commander Wood took charge of the bodies. Because of the storm and the uncertainty about whether or not you'd be able to get here, we had to move them. I hope that's all right."

"I suppose it'll have to do," Ducky said, but he smiled. "Certainly, it's better that having them waterlogged on the deck. I'd like to see them as quickly as possible before we lose any more time."

"Of course. You'll like Commander Wood, Ducky," Kate said. She turned to the sailor standing unobtrusively behind her. "Seaman Scoresby, show Dr. Mallard to the medical center."

"Yes, ma'am. Dr. Mallard?"

Ducky headed off.

"So...do you want to see the murder crime scene first or my office crime scene?"

"Your office?" Tim asked. "I didn't hear about your office."

"Yeah. The reason I got plowed down was because I was headed to my office when he was coming out of it. I don't know what he was looking for, but having lots of pairs of fresh eyes on this will be great."

Tony was surprised at how effusive Kate was acting. There was no hesitancy about expressing her joy at seeing them all again. She was easy in her greeting. ...and it was clear that she had settled into her role here on board. Tony liked seeing that in her.

"The skipper did want to talk to you when you got here, Gibbs" Kate said.

"Okay. Tony, McGee, check out the crime scene. Ziva, you start on the office with Kate."

Gibbs headed for the bridge. Kate led the others in the opposite direction. She pointed out where Tony and Tim should go and then she and Ziva went to her office. When they got to the crime scene, Tony looked at the space.

"In the middle of a storm, this wouldn't be a common space for people to come," Tim said. "So...why would our sailors be here?"

"It's probably as secluded as you're going to get on a carrier," Tony said.

He looked around again.

"We know there was a third person here."

Tim looked at Tony.

"What if this was a planned meeting? Only it turned into a murder instead?"

"Then...was the murder planned in advance or was it a heat-of-the moment thing?"

"If it was planned, why? And if not..."

"What turned it into a murder? And a double murder at that."

"Exactly. So...Probie...how's your stomach?"

Tim rolled his eyes. "If you'd stop asking me about it, it'd be a lot better. How about we focus on the crime scene?"

Tony laughed and knelt down to examine the decking, but after only a few minutes, he stood up again.

"This place may as well have been scrubbed clean with the rain out here."

"Yeah. Not the best situation." Tim looked around and Tony saw that _look_ on his face, the one that said he was starting to think of something.

"What is it, McGee?"

Tim walked over to the railing and looked out at the ocean.

"What if–?"

Then, he stopped.

"What, Probie?"

Tim pointed.

"There's a ship out there, Tony. Sure, it's the middle of a storm and there was chaos, but..."

"...maybe someone saw something. Good idea, Probie."

They finished up as quickly as they could and headed back inside.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"This is a mess," Ziva said.

"I didn't touch anything," Kate said. "Once I knew you were coming, I was happy to wait for help."

Ziva smiled.

"I'm sorry I never called you and Abby back. Since the storm hit, it's been one crisis after another."

"I understand," Ziva said, focusing on her work. "I would not have expected you to call back if you were busy."

Kate chuckled. "But I'm sure Abby was not so understanding."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Abby is ridiculous. There was a lot we could do that we did not get done because she insisted on acting like a child."

"She just has her own way of expressing concern...and it tends to be...dramatic," Kate said diplomatically.

Ziva shook her head. "There is a time to be worried and a time to be patient. Abby should have learned that by now."

"She has. She just chooses not to use it." Kate knelt down by her desk and started dusting for fingerprints. "When it's necessary, she'll get to work."

"If she overreacts every time there is a little thing to worry about, how will you know when there is something serious?"

Kate looked at Ziva.

"What's going on, Ziva?"

"We are investigating murders."

"Come on, Ziva," Kate said. "I can tell when you're worrying about something important."

Ziva was silent for a few seconds.

"Is it your father again?" Kate asked.

Ziva sighed. "Yes. I am... He may convince Director Vance that I have... That I am no longer of use and I should go back."

"You don't want to." It wasn't a question.

"No. I like what I have at NCIS."

Kate smiled sympathetically.

"Have you told Director Vance that?"

"No. I do not want to give him a reason to think about it more. He is friends with my father."

"You should tell him how you feel. Vance is more sympathetic than you give him credit for."

Ziva shrugged noncommittally, and Kate could see she was done talking about it for now. Instead, they focused on the office. There were some fingerprints that might not be Kate's own. They could check that much at least without any problem.

"Did you find anything about Rossi and Paulson?" Kate asked.

"Yes, but nothing that would indicate that they would be killed."

"I guess it couldn't be that easy, could it. What did you find?"

"They did not know each other before the Navy. They are from different places. They did not attend school together. They served together on the HST. That seems to be the first time they met each other."

"So...whatever this has been, it's something that started on board. I keep coming back to that woman they said they were fighting over."

"She does not seem to exist."

"I know, but there's something to it. I can't fathom that they'd both use this woman as an excuse for what happened without reason."

"Perhaps, it is not a woman they were fighting over, but a man."

Kate smiled. "Maybe...but since they turned up dead, I've been thinking that this makes no sense as a lovers' quarrel. This is something else."

The door to the office suddenly opened. Ziva spun around quickly to confront whoever it was.

It was Tony and Tim.

"Hey, Kate...wow, what a mess," Tony said.

"Yeah."

"What ship is starboard of the HST right now?"

"Uh...I'm not sure which ship is there right now."

"Can you find out?"

"Of course. Why?"

"Because if it was there while these two guys were getting killed..."

"A witness," Kate finished. "It's worth trying, although with the chaos of the storm and the wave, I'm not hopeful. We've got some fingerprints to send off. We just need to find something to point us in the right direction. We're still just kind of...walking blindly. Okay. You know your way to the bridge, Tony?"

"Of course!" Tony said, sounding affronted.

"Yeah, he only got us lost twice on our way here," Tim said.

"At least I got us here, McNauseous."

"Don't start that again."

Kate just laughed. "You can get the layout of the group pretty easily. I'm going to check with Ducky and then we'll get what we can sent to Abby."

"Yeah, you'd better talk to Abby," Tim said. "She'd probably explode if you didn't."

"You're right. Ziva and I will go and talk to Ducky while you guys join Gibbs on the bridge."

"What's with the girl power?" Tony asked.

Ziva grinned. "Are you saying that Ducky is female?"

"No, of course not."

"Then, what do you mean?"

"You and Kate, hanging out together. You and Abby at NCIS. Going with Kate to call Abby. You gals just seem to like hanging out."

"When we have to be stuck with men all day, having female interactions is a definite plus, no matter the situation," Kate said, hooking arms with Ziva.

"You only think that because you don't see Ziva hanging out with the boys."

Ziva raised an eyebrow, but Kate just grinned and pulled her out of the office.

They went directly to the medical center and found Ducky chatting amiably with Commander Wood.

"Have you found anything, Ducky?" Kate asked.

"Some. There is a wound on the back of Seaman Rossi's head. His throat was cut, likely from above after the head wound was inflicted. I think it likely that he was killed first."

"Why do you say that?" Ziva asked.

"Because there is no wound on Seaman Paulson beyond the one that killed him."

Kate nodded. "So...they weren't killed at the same time."

"Unlikely, although I can't verify that for you from the time of death because they were moved and the storm outside likely removed that as a possibility. The wound on Seaman Paulson was made from a different angle, but it was no less efficient. One deep slice. Likely a serrated edge based on the damage done on both. The same weapon killed both men."

"A planned killing," Ziva said. "This person knew he could not kill them both at once."

"So...then, it becomes a matter of why they were killed," Kate said.

"I have some photos you could send to Abigail and have her check for other crimes like this."

Kate nodded.

"There's so much going on now. I'm so glad you're all here."

Ducky leaned over and hugged her gently.

"We're all very happy to see you doing so well, Caitlin. I think I would not be amiss in saying that some are starting to count down until your return to dry land."

"It's too bad we can't have two agents out here. We'd keep her when Agent Burley comes back," Commander Wood said with a smile.

Kate flushed. "It's so nice to be so loved," she said dramatically. "But I think I won't worry about that right now."

"Probably a good idea. Here are the photos for Abigail. I think I'll stay here if Commander Wood doesn't mind."

"Not at all, Dr. Mallard. Feel free."

"Thank you."

Kate and Ziva headed up to the communications center to see if Abby could do anything with the disparate evidence they'd collected.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Abby is probably still mad at me," Ziva said.

Kate smiled. "Maybe, but I doubt it. That would require too much effort on her part."

"It is just so frustrating that she gets upset so easily. If I got upset that easily, there would be a lot of dead bodies."

Kate laughed. "Abby hides behind being childish when she gets worried. It's probably good for her that you don't tolerate it."

"I do not understand how you can accept it so easily."

"I don't know. I just do. I guess I get why she does it; so I don't worry about it." Kate glanced at Ziva. "Just like I get why you hide behind feeling nothing. I get it. So I don't worry about it."

Ziva looked at her and then looked away without answering.

Kate sat down.

"We have free lines for sending information?" she asked.

"Yes, Agent Todd. Have at it," the officer on duty said.

"Thank you," Kate said. She dialed Abby's lab.

" _Kate! I've been so worried! I'm so glad you're calling me!"_

"Hi, Abby. It's been chaotic here," Kate said, "but I have some stuff for you."

" _What stuff?"_

"Fingerprints, mostly. Someone trashed my office and left some prints...we hope. I'm going to scan them in and send them over to you. Ducky also wanted you to check on the m.o. of the murders and see if they fit with any others."

" _Lay them on me, Kate! I'll get right on it."_

"Thanks."

" _Stay safe, Kate. Don't fall off the ship."_

"Abby, I know how to work on the carrier. I've been out here for six months."

" _I know. I just miss you and I want you to come back."_

Ziva stifled a sigh and rolled her eyes, but Kate just smiled.

"I'm fine, Abby. And with everyone here, I'm not in any danger."

" _Okay, okay. I'll get started. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything."_

"Thanks, Abby."

Kate disconnected and then sent the photos and fingerprints that they'd collected. She knew that Abby, for all her frenetic energy, would get the job done.

"All right. Let's see. We've got the stuff sent off to Abby. Tony and Tim are checking on the ships. Ducky is still with Commander Wood."

"Could we not check their bunks? Perhaps something is there," Ziva suggested.

"Great idea."

They headed off to check on Rossi and Paulson's bunks.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

" _I'm sorry, Agent DiNozzo. Because of the storm, no one was on duty in that area of the ship, and I'd be surprised if anyone was looking toward the carrier. With the_ Toka _sinking, that took all our attention."_

"Thanks, anyway." Tony hung up. "Well, it was worth a shot. Any ideas of what to try next?"

Tim said nothing; so Tony turned to look at him.

"You're looking a bit green around the gills, McGee."

"Shut up and don't talk to me," Tim mumbled.

Tony grinned. "Someone didn't take their dramamine."

"I did to. Shut up, Tony," Tim said.

While he _was_ slightly sympathetic to Tim's predicament, Tony couldn't deny that he found it funny and more than a little incongruous that a Navy cop got seasick. Tim had been looking worse and worse with every little tremor on the carrier. Tony was pretty sure that there'd be some up-chucking soon at this rate.

Gibbs came onto the bridge with the skipper and Tony walked over to talk to him.

"Boss," he said in a low voice.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

"I think I should get Tim to whatever room we'll be sleeping in before he disgraces himself. It probably wouldn't be good for the sailors to see him."

Gibbs looked past Tony to Tim who currently had his eyes closed as another slight tremor shook the carrier. Tony could see sympathy warring with frustration and annoyance on his face.

He walked over to the skipper and spoke to him. The skipper looked at Gibbs and then at Tim and almost smiled. He gestured to one of the men on duty.

Gibbs walked over to Tony.

"Go on. The ensign will show you where to go."

"Thanks, Boss."

Tony walked over to Tim.

"Come on, McGee. Let's go."

Tim nodded and followed Tony. Thankfully, it was a relatively quick trip to their quarters which were mercifully separate from the crew's bunks. As soon as they were in the room, Tim was in the head and Tony could hear him throwing up.

While he waited for Tim's stomach to settle down again, Tony leaned back and considered what they knew...which wasn't much.

Rossi and Paulson had claimed to have a falling out over a girl. That was apparently a lie since the woman didn't seem to exist. Things had calmed for a while only to threaten to boil over again, according to the CMC. Then, they both ended up dead and a man had been seen fleeing the scene. The same man, or another one, had ransacked Kate's office, even though she had, by her own account, only found some fingerprints and a small swatch of cloth.

"And only 5,000 men and women to sort through," Tony said in a low voice.

That was the biggest problem. The killer could easily hide in plain sight as a crew member because who could know all 5,000 sailors?

Tim staggered out of the head and sank down onto a bunk.

"Feeling any better, McVomit?"

"No," Tim said. "But I'm not throwing up."

"Good. Now, tell me how we're going to find the one person who shouldn't be on this carrier when he or she can easily mix in with the real crew."

Tim took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I don't know."

"No technological whiz-bangs? I'm disappointed."

"I just finished turning my stomach inside out, Tony," Tim said. "Give me a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay. What are you going to do to keep this from happening again? I won't always be there."

"Take more dramamine," Tim muttered and lay down, rubbing his stomach. "And try not to overdose on it."

"You seem to enjoy giving yourself misery."

"I didn't ask to come on this trip. That was Gibbs."

"You wanted to come. Don't pretend."

"Only in theory. Not in practice."

Tony laughed. "The sooner we figure this out, the sooner you'll be back on solid ground."

Tim sat up. "True."

He took another deep breath.

"One guy out of five thousand. I don't know, Tony. Maybe, we should..." Then, he trailed off.

"Oh, I know that look. The McGeek brain cells are starting fire. Come on! Give!"

"Maybe... and then... It _could_ work," Tim said.

"You need to fill in a few sentences, Probie. You've skipped, and I can't follow."

Tony didn't say it, but he was relieved to see Tim acting normal. Working usually helped him, and it seemed that was the case now. He forgot his nausea because he was too preoccupied with being smart.

"Security cameras! We could maybe tap into the security cameras!"

"How would that help? We don't know what the guy looks like."

"But we do know who _should_ be on the ship. There are facial recognition programs that can be used with security cameras. We could just program it to ignore the people on the roster and then use the ones... Wait."

"What? It's sounding good to me, Tim. Keep going!"

Tim sagged back and shook his head. "No. We don't know if it would be another member of the crew or a stowaway. If it's a member of the crew, that won't help us at all."

"You're right. Still...we can get rid of the possibility of a stowaway if we do this thing you're talking about. You ready to try something?"

Another breath.

"I guess so." He started to stand up.

The door opened and Gibbs strode in.

"You all right, McGee?" he asked.

"I'll make it, Boss."

Gibbs accepted that and turned to the business at hand. "The skipper isn't going to stand in the way of our investigation. He said that we can feel free to ask any questions, but he does ask that we inform the CMC if we're going to start questioning anyone in particular."

"What _about_ the CMC?" Tony asked. "I didn't get any real sense of him."

"Ask Kate."

"Will do. Hey, McGee has an idea of how we might be able to narrow down our possible suspects to a more manageable number."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at Tim.

"This won't work if he's a real crew member, but if he's a stowaway, I think I can get a program that would analyze the security camera feeds and alert us if there was someone on the cameras who didn't belong. There aren't cameras everywhere, but if this guy is really moving about dressed as a sailor, he'll still be on camera _somewhere_."

"And if he _is_ a crew member?"

"Then, we may still narrow it down a little bit by seeing who was on the cameras near the crime scene at the appropriate time. It's something to try, Boss," Tim said.

Gibbs nodded. "We talk all this over with Kate and Ziva when they get back here."

"Campfire, Boss?" Tony asked, hopefully.

Gibbs just rolled his eyes. Then, he looked at Tim.

"You stay in here until you know you're not going to puke in front of the crew. We don't need them getting the wrong idea."

"Yeah, Boss," Tim said, ruefully.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"What do you got?"

Kate jumped and turned around quickly from her examination of Rossi's bunk.

"Not much, Gibbs. Unfortunately, Rossi doesn't seem to have kept anything of an illicit nature."

"Paulson?"

"The same," Ziva said. "We did collect more fingerprints to make sure that someone has not been going through their belongings who should not be, but otherwise..."

"They're both clean as a whistle."

"Not clean enough," Gibbs said.

"Granted," Kate said.

"Ready for a meeting?"

"Sure. We were just about finished here, anyway." Kate looked at her silent shadow. "Seaman Kym, what are your instructions?"

"The CMC said that I'm to be on guard duty until I'm relieved."

She stifled a sigh.

"All right. You'll have to wait outside the room while we talk."

"Understood, ma'am."

"Lead the way, Gibbs," Kate said, although she had a pretty good idea of where they'd be quartered.

When they got inside the quarters, Kate gave Tim a sympathetic smile.

"Bad timing for you to get on the carrier, Tim," she said.

"I'm trying not to think about it," Tim said and grimaced.

"You do not seem happy with your escort, Kate," Ziva said.

Kate rolled her eyes. "It's not the escort specifically, but the fact that I have one at all. Master Chief Easton is just too thorough."

"What about him?" Tony asked. "We're supposed to check with him, first, if we decide to question any of the crew."

"Master Chief Easton is extremely conscientious. He's strict but fair. The crew trusts him which is good since his role is to be the go-between for the skipper. He's also very stiff with me because he's not sure what to do with a female agent. Nothing about my abilities, just my gender."

"And you're letting him live?" Tony asked, teasingly.

Kate glared. "He's good at his job, and he's never given me any real grief. Just some frustration because he tends to overcompensate for his uncertainty. However, he won't be going behind your back to warn the crew and he might be able to give you information I don't have."

"That's good to know."

"So where are we at?" Kate asked. "There was nothing in Rossi or Paulson's bunks to point us in the right direction...or even the wrong one. It's looking like a planned murder. Ducky said it was likely that Rossi was killed first, followed by Paulson."

"Where were they stationed?"

"Well, that's harder to say during the storm," Kate said. "We had the rogue wave and a lot of people were helping with the _Toka_ , trying to get the crew out of the water and save some of the cargo. Commander Wood never saw them in the medical center; so they must not have had any seasickness problems, or if they did, they were relatively minor. They were assigned to the flight deck, but it's possible that, once everything was secured on deck or removed from deck, that they were helping in any other area of the carrier...or else getting ready to be murdered."

"Are you thinking a stowaway, then?" Tim asked.

"I think it's a distinct possibility. We were in port in Marseille before heading back. With the two of them, if they were in on it together, then, it would be easier to get someone on board without being seen. Clearly, we weren't aware of how serious things were; so I can't be definitive. The question is, if we do have a stowaway, what does he want? Why is he on board?"

"It's serious enough to kill for," Tony said.

"Yes, and to try to cover his tracks," Ziva said.

"I was thinking that I could run an analysis of the security cameras to find someone who isn't in the ship's crew," Tim said. There was a slight tremor and he grimaced, swallowed and continued. "If he is a stowaway, we know he's been on deck at least twice; so we might be able to track down where he's been and what he looks like."

"I think it's worth a shot. You'd definitely have to clear it with the skipper, first. That's way beyond just questioning crew members."

Gibbs looked at Tim sternly. Tim flushed, giving him some much-needed color.

"Sorry, Boss," he mumbled.

"I can get the skipper to come here," Kate said. "If you still need some time to settle your stomach."

"It's never going to be settled," Tim said. "...but if you got him here, I won't be an embarrassment to NCIS."

Kate smiled. She couldn't deny that the sailors would have a field day with the idea that the Navy cop on board couldn't tolerate some minor rocking.

She walked over to the door and opened it. Seaman Kym came to attention.

"Seaman, I need you to ask the skipper to come to the NCIS team's quarters at his earliest convenience. Let me know if he'll be delayed."

"Yes, ma'am."

She nodded and closed the door.

"Now, we just have to wait to see what the skipper thinks."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Captain Jones had the time and so he came to their quarters. Kate saw him suppress a smile at Tim's obvious distress. It wasn't that he didn't feel for him, but anyone associated with the Navy getting seasick was just a little amusing.

"All right. What did you need?" he asked. "Besides an extra bucket, Agent McGee?"

Tim blushed brightly. "I'm all right, Captain."

"Good. I can't control the rocking."

"I know. Believe me. I know." Tim swallowed. "It's actually better if people let me ignore it."

"Can do." Then, the skipper looked at Kate. "What's this about, Agent Todd?"

"Agent McGee has come up with a possible way to determine if there's a stowaway on board or not."

"I'm all ears. What is it?"

"Tim?" Kate prodded.

Tim swallowed again and nodded.

"So my idea is to install a program into the cameras that will filter through the crew members and ping those who aren't on the crew list."

"How does that work?"

"It's a facial recognition program," Tim said. "The one thing is that we'd need a full crew manifest which would have to be added into the program and obviously, there couldn't be any announcement of it."

"Meaning that the entire crew would be scanned without their knowledge."

"Yes," Tim said. "If the killer really is a stowaway then..."

There was another strong rocking and Tim's face paled.

"Excuse me," he said and made a dash for the head.

The skipper looked at Gibbs.

"Why did you bring him along?"

"Because he comes up with ideas like this."

"Seems a bit cruel under the circumstances."

"He'd hate being left behind more," Tony said.

"Why is he a Navy cop in the first place?"

"Because it's what he loves," Kate said. "He told me once that he's always wanted this. His family is all Navy."

"Ah. He has the bug but not the stomach."

Kate smiled and nodded as Tim came back out.

"I'm really sorry about this," he said.

"Do motion sickness pills help you at all?" Captain Jones asked.

"Well, they do when the weather is calm. Stormy weather like this, they just make it possible for me to function," Tim said.

"This is functioning?"

Tim managed a weak smile and sat down again. "Yeah. Believe it or not."

"You were saying that if there's really a stowaway," Kate said, trying to let Tim get back on track.

He gave her a grateful glance and nodded. Then, he swallowed once and cleared his throat.

"If there's really a stowaway, he'll hear all the announcements, too, and will know to avoid the cameras."

"He'd likely try that anyway, wouldn't he?" the skipper asked.

"Not so it was obvious," Tony said. "If he was always trying to turn his face away from the cameras, that would look suspicious."

"True. All right, well..."

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

Kate's guard leaned in.

"Sir, there's a message for the NCIS people from an Abigail Sciuto."

"Thank you, Seaman Kym."

He nodded and started to withdraw.

"Seaman Kym, for the time being, Agent Todd will be with the NCIS team. Please report to CMC Easton and tell him I'd like you to resume your regular duties."

"Yes, sir."

"You're dismissed."

"Thank you, sir."

The door closed.

"Thank you," Kate said.

The skipper smiled. "It's out of concern."

"I know and I appreciate that."

"But, please, Agent Todd, don't go anywhere by yourself. If only to ease the Master Chief's mind."

"I can do that," Kate said with a grin.

"Good. For now, Agent McGee, please write up exactly what kind of access you would need to implement your idea. Agent Todd, if you'll accompany me to find out what your message is?"

"Yes, skipper. Gibbs, Ziva, why don't you come along, too?"

Gibbs nodded. He looked back at Tony and Tim and raised an eyebrow.

"I'll keep him hydrated, Boss," Tony said, grinning.

"Better keep him more than hydrated," Captain Jones said. "Actually, I'll have Commander Wood come and check in on you."

"Oh, that's not necessary," Tim said. "It really is just seasickness."

"I don't doubt that, but he might have something that'll help you while you're on board. You're not the first man to have seasickness, not even on this voyage."

"Okay."

Kate walked over to Tim and leaned over.

"Thanks for coming, Tim. I know it's not any fun for you."

Tim rolled his eyes a little.

"Yeah, you owe me, big time." But he smiled.

"I do. Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks."

Then, they left the room and headed for the communications center. Captain Jones paused only to request that Commander Wood see if he could do anything for Tim's seasickness. As soon as they were settled, Abby was on the screen.

" _I got some fingerprints!"_ she declared, triumphantly.

"Maybe we won't need that program after all," Captain Jones murmured.

Kate knew that he didn't like the idea of using that facial recognition on his crew and so, for his sake, she did hope that it was truly this easy.

"Is it a member of the crew, then?" she asked.

" _Yes! This is his first assignment,"_ Abby said. _"His name is Seaman Allen Fogle."_

"Fogle?" Kate repeated, in surprise. "I know that name. Skipper?"

"Fresh out of basic training. He excelled in basic training, lots of commendations. That's why I took him on the carrier. He has a lot of potential."

"Was he ever in your office, Kate?" Ziva asked.

"Not when I was," Kate said. "And I'm surprised to see his prints. I would not expect someone with his record to be ransacking my office."

"It could be worse than that," Ziva pointed out. "We have been assuming that the man who ransacked your office also killed Poulson and Rossi."

"Is there any question, Abby?" Kate asked.

" _Nope. Index and thumb. They were clear as day."_

"All right. Skipper?"

"I don't like to think that he could be a murderer," Captain Jones said, "but we obviously need to look into it. Right now. Agent Todd, if you would accompany me. We'll get Seaman Fogle and take him to the wardroom. Agent Gibbs and Officer David, please meet us there."

"Yes, Skipper," Gibbs said.

"Agent Todd?"

Kate nodded and followed Captain Jones.

"I don't like this, Agent Todd," he said as they left.

"I hope there's another explanation."

"As do I."

Kate hesitated for a moment. It really wasn't the skipper's job to detain any of his crew.

"You know, the Master Chief could do this," she said.

"Yes, I know, but I don't like it when a murder happens on my ship _and_ you've been attacked as well. If this is one of my people who is guilty, I'm going to find out."

"Understood, sir."

They found out Seaman Fogle's current duty on deck and tracked him down.

"Captain on deck!"

Everyone came to attention.

"Seaman Fogle," Captain Jones said, sternly.

The new sailor hurried over.

"Aye, sir."

The skipper looked at everyone else.

"As you were," he said.

"Aye aye, sir."

Work resumed on the deck, but there were more than a few sidelong glances toward the trio.

"We have a problem, Seaman Fogle," Captain Jones said.

Seaman Fogle's eyes shifted between the skipper and Kate. Kate could see he was nervous, and it wasn't just about being addressed by the captain. There was definitely something more to it. Was it murder? That remained to be seen, but he was definitely guilty of something.

"Aye, sir?" he said.

"Come with us."

"Aye aye, sir," he said.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Well, Dr. Mallard, I have to say that it's been quite a while since I had the chance to assist on an autopsy," Commander Wood said.

"At sea, I can see that would be a blessing."

"Absolutely."

"Commander?"

Commander Wood turned away from Ducky.

"Yes, Petty Officer?"

"Captain Jones asked that you check on one of the NCIS people."

"Oh? Is he ill?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Very well. Is it urgent?"

"I don't think so, sir."

"Thank you, Petty Officer."

Commander Wood turned back to Ducky who smiled.

"I would wager that I know exactly why you're being asked to check on one of the agents."

"Oh?"

Ducky nodded.

"I'm afraid that Agent McGee gets seasick, even on calm seas."

"Oh, dear," Commander Wood said, sympathetically. "You weren't here for the rogue wave, but it took a number of sailors by surprise, and these are men and women who generally _don't_ have that problem. I may or may not be able to help. Do you think he's been throwing up?"

"I would count on it."

"That bad?"

"Oh, yes," Ducky said.

"All right. Well, in that case, he'll likely need hydration as well as some electrolytes. If he can keep it down, I do have something that has been known to work. It's a drug cocktail of scopalomine and ephedrine."

"A depressant and a stimulant?"

"Yes. The anti-nausea drug causes drowsiness and the ephedrine counteracts the drowsiness, but obviously, this isn't a great long-term solution. It's just something that might help him while you're out here in this storm. If this happens to him all the time, he may not be able to adapt to the rough seas."

"I'd say that's almost a certainty, particularly considering the length of time we'll likely be here."

"Then, I think that I'll suggest it and see if he'd like to try it."

"All right. Why don't we finish up here and I'll come along with you."

"Sounds good."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony looked over at Tim as he lay on the bunk with his eyes closed tightly. Reading and writing had not been helping Tim's seasickness and so Tony had taken over as his scribe while Tim lay on the bunk just trying not to move and trying not to throw up again.

It was definitely a good thing that they wouldn't be staying out here long-term, but at the same time, it _was_ too bad that Tim had to deal with it the entire time.

"Anything else, McGee?" he asked.

"I don't think so. I think that's it."

"You want any more water?"

"No. I don't want to move."

There was a knock.

"Come in," Tony said.

"Good day," Commander Wood said as he and Ducky entered the room. "Well, there's no question which of you is the one needing my services."

Tim opened his eyes and sat up quickly.

"It's just the storm," he said. "I'm not usually this bad."

Tony scoffed.

"I'm not," Tim said. "Usually, the dramamine is enough to keep me from throwing up, at least. It's just the rough seas this time that are..."

Another roll of the carrier and Tim closed his eyes (as well as his mouth) and swallowed hard.

"Well, Agent McGee, I do have a possible solution, only temporary, and for some it doesn't work and some it does."

"What's that?"

"First, we need to get some water and electrolytes into you. Drugs work better if you're not dehydrated."

"Easier said than done," Tim said.

"We could do it via an IV, if you'd like."

"No. I'm not going to the medical center because of a little seasickness," Tim said.

"While I appreciate the sentiment, Agent McGee, many of the sailors on this voyage have visited me for exactly this problem, just in the last few days. Storms make it more difficult."

"I'm fine."

"You're not _fine_ , Tim," Tony said. "Anyone looking at you can see that."

"Thank you, Tony," Tim said.

"Timothy, while I have no doubt that there will likely be some sailors who will be amused by an agent being seasick, you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm not getting an IV because I'm seasick," Tim said, firmly.

"Then, at least rehydrate," Commander Wood said.

Tim nodded and took the drink.

"I would give you something to eat, but you probably wouldn't keep it down right now. So we'll keep it as simple as we can. Then, are you interesting in seeing if I can help get this in control, at least, in the short term?"

"What is it?" Tim asked.

"It's called the Coast Guard or Navy cocktail. I've used it a number of times. It combines a strong anti-nausea drug which usually causes drowsiness, with a stimulant to counteract that. Since dramamine typically helps you on calm seas, I think this will likely help you out while you're on board."

"I didn't think you were supposed to combine depressants and stimulants."

"Under the care of a doctor, it's okay. I wouldn't recommend you do it on your own. Are you willing to give it a shot?"

"Side effects?" Tim asked.

"Dry mouth is fairly common, and you may end up awake for a full day, depending on how you react to the stimulant."

"I guess that means that Gibbs can't complain that I'm not doing enough work," Tim said with a smile.

Tony smiled, too. "Good. You can do my work while I'm sleeping."

"I'll do it," Tim said to Commander Wood.

"Okay. Let's just make sure that it'll stay down long enough to do some good."

"Yeah," Tim said.

He lay back down and closed his eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Have a seat, Seaman Fogle," Kate said. She sat down beside Gibbs. The skipper was not going to do the actual questioning, but he was still present in the room.

Fogle sat down at the table, across from the NCIS agents.

"We have a problem," Kate said. "You're aware that someone broke into my office?"

"Yes, ma'am." Then, his eyes widened. "You don't think _I_ did that, ma'am."

"That's the problem. I don't want to, but fingerprints are hard to fake."

"And your fingerprints were present in Agent Todd's office," Gibbs said. "Would you like to explain that?"

"I can't, sir," Fogle said. "I would never attack Agent Todd and I didn't mess up her office."

"I don't want to believe this, Seaman Fogle," Kate said, "but your fingerprints were in my office and you've _never_ been in my office, not for any reason. Where were you that day?"

"Be careful how you answer, Seaman Fogle," Captain Jones said, suddenly. "If I find out that you lied, not only will your Navy career be finished, you'll likely be in jail."

"I..." He took a deep breath. "It was just a joke and I chickened out."

"Destroying my office was a joke?" Kate asked.

"No! I didn't mess up your office, Agent Todd."

"You had better explain yourself, Seaman Fogle," Kate said.

"It was last week, before the storm. The guys in my compartment said that I... had to show that I could hack it. It's my first time on a carrier."

"I'm still waiting for how this leads to you being in my office."

"I was supposed to get in and take something to prove I'd done it. I got in but I couldn't bring myself to take anything," Fogle said, shamefacedly. "So I lied and told them that I almost got caught and I'd try again. Then, we were prepping for the storm and since then, there hasn't been time. I was hoping that they'd forget about it."

The skipper looked at Kate.

"Agent Todd, is it possible that his prints could be more than a week old?"

Kate nodded. "Yes. There are tests to try and confirm fingerprint age, but figuring out how old a print is can be very difficult. He _could_ be telling the truth."

"I am! I swear!"

"If we were to pull your buddies in and ask them, would they admit to it?"

"I don't know, ma'am. That would be asking them to admit to violating regs. I'd _hope_ so, but I don't know."

It was a valid answer, Kate knew. This was very likely a bit of hazing. They were probably hoping that he'd get caught and embarrassed. If he was quick enough on his feet, he could claim that he was lost which would also be embarrassing.

"All right, Seaman Fogle," Gibbs said, sliding his notebook across the table. "I want you to write out exactly where you were the day of the rogue wave. The day after, and the day you say you broke into Agent Todd's office. We will verify each stage and if you're wrong, you'll be back in here again."

"And you'll find we're much less understanding," Kate said.

"Yes, ma'am."

Seaman Fogle quickly wrote down his duties for each of those days and passed the notebook back.

"What now, ma'am?" he asked. "Am I going to be put in the brig?"

Kate suppressed a smile and kept herself stern.

"No, Seaman Fogle. For now, we're finished."

"Report back to your superior officer," the skipper said. "But you'll be watched closely until we figure this out. Understood?"

Fogle stood up and saluted.

"Aye aye, sir."

"Dismissed."

Fogle left the room, looking relieved and terrified at the same time. As soon as he was gone, the skipper sat down in his vacated seat.

"Well?"

"He's telling the truth," Kate said. "We'll want to verify it and make sure, but I don't think he's the one."

"Good. I'll be glad if all he's guilty of is giving into a stupid prank that was obviously meant to embarrass him. He's young to be deployed and some of the sailors don't like letting the younger ones get too full of themselves."

"What now?" Ziva asked. "This seems to put us back at box one."

"Square one," Kate corrected. "Not quite. We do have another option, skipper."

"True," Captain Jones said. "Let's see how your agent is doing. Commander Wood has had to deal with seasickness before, but every man is different."

"I had not realized before how easy it would be to never be outside on a carrier," Ziva said, as they walked through the narrow passages.

"Some of the men go weeks without being outside," Captain Jones said. "The flight crew is out all the time and anyone in the island, but those assigned to duties below decks... well, we don't really have windows."

They walked quickly to the quarters where Tim and Tony would still be and went inside. To Kate's surprise, Tim was sitting up, looking much better than he had. The seas were still as rough as before, but he was almost back to his normal color.

"Tim, you're looking well," she said.

"I'm a little buzzed, actually," he said, speaking just a tad too quickly. "No driving for me."

Tony laughed. "Commander Wood gave him something to help him while he's on board, but the stimulant was a bit more powerful than McGee was expecting."

"I would have thought that you would be fine, given all the coffee you drink," Ziva said.

"Me, too," Tim said, "but I guess not."

"Is he all right?" Captain Jones asked.

Commander Wood smiled and nodded. "Yes. This alertness might last a bit longer than I would normally want, but other than being a bit more stimulated than I thought he would be, Agent McGee is fine. His stats are all in normal limits."

"Good."

"We were just about to return to the medical center," Ducky said. "Is there anything new?"

"What happened with Abby?" Tony asked.

"She found prints belonging to a Seaman Fogle."

"And?"

"He's probably in the clear," Kate said.

"Caught in a prank," Gibbs said.

"Destroying your office is a prank?" Tim asked. "That seems way too big to be a simple prank."

"No. He claims that it happened before the storm. We're going to check on where he was assigned and we'll double check on the cameras, but right now, he claims that he was supposed to break into my office and take something but that he chickened out."

"You mean, he wised up," Tim said.

"Yeah."

"So where does that leave us, then?" Tony asked.

"Back at McGee's idea," Gibbs said.

"Well, I wrote up..."

"Ahem," Tony said.

"Tony transcribed what I said about how to do it," Tim said without missing a beat.

Tony handed the list over to the skipper who took it and looked over the steps that would be required for it to work. Then, he looked up.

"I still don't really like the idea of using this, but it'll probably be our best bet at figuring out who this is before we lose the chance to get him." He nodded. "All right. Agent McGee, you feel up to moving around?"

"For now. I don't know how long it'll last, but I'm very awake and I'm not throwing up."

"Then, come with me and we'll get you started. I'll take you and introduce you to the security people so they know who you are."

"Thanks."

Tim and the skipper left.

"Is he really okay?" Kate asked. "I mean, it's great that he's not throwing up right now, but he really does seem a bit..."

"Stimulated?" Tony suggested.

"I promise. Some people just are more sensitive to stimulants than others," Commander Wood said. "Agent McGee had never taken ephedrine before. I told him that he should make sure he says something if he feels like there's anything wrong, but the most I think will happen is that he'll have a hard time sleeping tonight."

"He probably won't sleep anyway with this stuff going on," Tony said. "He'll be glued to the computers trying to make his idea work no matter what it takes."

"Yeah, with this being _his_ idea. He'll be determined to make sure that it pans out like he said it would," Kate said.

"Well, I need to get back to the medical center," Commander Wood said. "I hope it works out like you want."

"Thanks."

"I believe I'll accompany him unless you need me for anything, Jethro?"

Gibbs shook his head.

Commander Wood and Ducky left. The room was getting roomier as people cleared out.

"So where does that leave us?" Ziva asked.

"Waiting, I guess," Kate said. "But actually, I want to get back to looking at Rossi and Paulson and this woman who doesn't exist. And I want to straighten my office. But I promised the skipper I wouldn't go anywhere alone."

"I will come with you," Ziva said.

"Great. Gibbs?"

"We'll check with Easton about Seaman Fogle."

"Okay."

Kate and Ziva headed for Kate's office and arrived without incident. When she opened the door, Kate shook her head.

"I hate seeing it this way," she said. "I have so little space here that's mine and I keep what space I have clean and organized."

"Of course you do," Ziva said.

Kate smiled and got to work cleaning up her space. Ziva helped without making conversation for a while and they made quite a dent in the mess.

"You seem to like being out here," Ziva said.

"Yes. I've enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would."

"Does that mean you would stay?"

Kate looked up from a pile of paper she'd been sorting through. Ziva was studiously _not_ looking at her.

"No. Stan wants to come back and he will in another six months. I've talked to him a bit and he's ready to come back, even if he feels a little guilty about that. I couldn't stay here even if I'd wanted to."

"There are other carriers."

"Yes, and I suppose I could apply for another Agent Afloat position, but that's not currently in my plans."

"Good."

Kate found it a little amusing that Ziva was so awkward. She could tell that Ziva had missed her, but she wasn't admitting to it, even obliquely.

"Ziva, are you embarrassed that you've missed me?"

Ziva still wouldn't look up.

"I had not realized what it was like to work with people like I have met at NCIS," she said.

"Well, we're not as highly-trained as Mossad, I'm sure, but..."

Ziva looked up.

"No. You do not understand what this is like for me. I do not make friends, Kate. Why make friends when you know that they will likely be dead far too soon? Or when you will likely be dead far too soon? Friendship only makes the job harder to do. Here... I have friends, and that is new to me. I do not want to lose it. And you were my first friend, even though I had not planned on it."

Kate smiled and walked over to where Ziva was still standing uncomfortably. She hugged Ziva quickly.

"Like I told Tim, years back, there's a chance that we could die every time we walk through the door, but even so, I couldn't give up making friends, even with the possibility of the pain of losing them."

"You are stronger than I am," Ziva said. "I cannot have the pain of death over and over again."

"Maybe I wouldn't if I had to face it like you have, but I haven't, and you have my friendship..." Kate's smile widened. "...whether you like it or not."

Ziva finally smiled a little in response.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They got back to work on the office.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"From what I can discern, Seaman Fogle is being honest about where he was each day," CMC Easton said.

"How well do you know him?" Gibbs asked.

"As well as I can know any of the new sailors on this assignment. He came with many commendations for his work ethic and his skill and his actions up to now have supported those commendations."

"Would you suspect him of murder?" Tony asked.

"Absolutely not. Seaman Fogle is not one I would ever suspect of murder, and you've seen him?"

"No."

"He doesn't have the build to take down Rossi and Paulson, especially not together. Even if he did, I wouldn't suspect him."

"Thank you."

"Agent Todd isn't alone, is she?"

"No," Gibbs said.

"She's plenty capable of taking care of herself, you know," Tony said.

"Of course she is, but anyone can be taken by surprise, Agent DiNozzo," CMC Easton said, stiffening. "And especially when she's been targeted once, it's simply foolish to rely on the good will of a murderer."

Tony suppressed a smile. He could see what Kate meant. CMC Easton would never admit to any reservations about having her on board. He knew he shouldn't treat her any differently, but he saw her differently and so he tried to do his best. And in fact, it wasn't a bad situation, really. He'd likely figure it out for himself eventually.

"Is that everything, Agent Gibbs?" CMC Easton asked.

"Yes. Thank you."

As they headed back to their quarters, they stopped and peeked in where Tim was working, but he seemed absorbed in what he was doing and so they didn't linger. If he wasn't thinking about anything but working, even if the anti-nausea drug wore off, he'd be better than he would be if he had the time to think about being sick.

"What do you think?" Tony asked when they got back to their private space.

"It's not Fogle," Gibbs said.

"Yeah. No one seems to think he'd do it, and even if we ignored that since people have been wrong before, the records support him as well. So we set him aside," Tony said.

Gibbs nodded.

"So that means, we still have a murderer and, unless someone has a majorly brilliant idea, we're stuck with waiting for McGee to find him."

Gibbs nodded again.

"Well, in that case, you think we could get something to eat? I'm starved."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

After eating with the team and satisfied that everything that could be done that night was done, Kate decided to stop and check on Tim. This time, Tony tagged along, hoping he'd get a chance to see Tim acting silly.

"Really, Tony, you'd think that Tim was delirious instead of just a bit overly energetic," Kate said.

"I keep hoping. Tim doesn't let himself go...like ever. He's way too conscious of scrutiny."

"Well, when it's _you_ doing the scrutinizing, you can hardly blame him for holding back," Kate said. "You do tend to take the teasing too far."

"Oh, I'm hurt, Kate."

"Yeah, right."

Then, suddenly, Tony came up beside her (a trick in the narrow passages) and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I've missed you, Kate."

Kate stopped in her tracks and looked at him in surprise.

"You don't need to act so shocked," Tony said, smiling.

"Well, you have to admit, Tony, that you're not usually so effusive. In fact, I'm waiting for the lame joke to follow."

"No joke. It's not the same without you around."

"Well...thanks, Tony. I appreciate that. It's been really nice seeing everyone again. Even you."

Tony squeezed her shoulders once and then let her go.

"Now, let's see if the Probie is still bouncing off the walls."

"How long will you keep calling him that?" Kate asked as they continued on their way.

"Until I die."

"That long?"

"It's a term of endearment."

"Ha. Whatever," Kate said, but she smiled, too.

They reached the security center and found Tim still hard at work at a computer station. Kate walked over to him.

"Hey, Tim. How's it going?"

No response.

"He hasn't said a real word in hours," the ensign on duty said. "Every so often, he'll start muttering to himself, but he's become one with the machines. If it weren't for the fact that the skipper introduced him, I'd be worried what he's going to do."

Kate grinned.

"Tim is about the last person you'd have to have that kind of worry about. He just gets really focused."

"I'll get his attention," Tony said, eagerly.

"No, you won't, Tony. I will."

She walked over and squeezed Tim's shoulder.

"Hey, Tim. You awake?"

Tim jumped a little and then turned around blinking as he focused on something other than the computer.

"Hey. What time is it?"

"2100 hours, Tim," Kate said. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Uh...I'm not sure I should push my luck."

"You can't just go on a fast until you get off the ship, McGee," Tony said. "I think you'll probably feel a lot worse if you starve yourself."

Tim smiled. "I don't think I'm at risk of starving myself. I eat plenty."

"I don't know about that," Kate said. "I think you've lost weight since I saw you last."

"Well, I did turn my stomach inside out," Tim said.

"That's not what I mean."

"I'm really not hungry right now," Tim said.

"Then, how about some sleep?"

"Still feeling pretty alert."

"What Kate is trying to say is that you need to take a break, McGee," Tony said.

"Are you at a point where you could?" Kate asked.

Tim looked back at the computer.

"Yeah. I can set it up to run automatically. I just don't want to leave it at that. I set this up pretty quickly and there could still be bugs in it. I don't want to leave it running just to have it get fouled up while I'm not here. Can you imagine what Gibbs would do if I screwed up my own idea? I'd get in such trouble and I don't want that. If I'm right here the whole time, I'll know if something goes wrong," Tim said, still talking a little too fast, slightly reminiscent of Abby on a caffeine high.

"Agent McGee, we could keep an eye on it for you. It wouldn't be a problem and if something came up, we'd call you back down," the ensign said.

Kate could see that Tim was tempted just to have a bit of a break.

"Come on, Tim. You need to step away from the computers just for a little while."

"Okay. Just give me a couple of minutes to get the automatic detection going."

Kate stepped back and gave Tim room to work. As he began typing, she noticed a piece of paper with some writing on it. It didn't seem to be anything detailed, but she tracked in on one part of it. Tim had written Rossi and Paulson, connected by a line, and then arrows down to DLM with question marks all around.

"Tim, what's this?" Kate asked.

Tim glanced away from the computer.

"Oh, just some doodling. I was waiting for the program to upload and so I started writing down what we know."

"DLM?" Kate asked.

Tim smiled. "Deirdre Lee Mason. I wasn't focusing on it enough to want to write down the whole name."

Kate smiled but she stared at the letters, wondering why they had caught her attention. Tim finished his task and they all started walking back to their quarters. Suddenly, though, Kate stopped, mid-stride. She stopped so suddenly that Tim ran into her from behind and knocked her forward a step.

"Whoa, sorry, Kate," Tim said.

"No, that was my fault, Tim," Kate said. "I need to go and talk to the skipper."

"You're not going alone," Tony said.

"Fine, then, one or both of you can keep up while I walk," Kate said. The thought that had just occurred to her needed to be told now, not tomorrow morning. She started walking toward the bridge, not sure if the skipper would still be there, but thinking it was more likely than anywhere else at this time of night.

"What's going on?" Tim asked. "I don't get it."

"What's going on is something that I can't talk about. Not yet. But I think I might know _why_ Rossi and Paulson were killed and it has nothing to do with fighting over a woman," Kate said, picking up her pace.

They reached the bridge in record time and Kate was glad to see the skipper.

"Agent Todd...and company," Captain Jones said when he saw them. "What is it?"

"If you have the time, I need to speak to you in private. Right away, skipper," Kate said.

Captain Jones' eyes widened slightly in a silent question.

"Very well. Captain Cobb, you have the con."

"Aye aye, sir."

The XO took over the bridge while Kate and the skipper, followed by Tony and Tim, walked to a secure space to talk.

"I don't know if Agent DiNozzo and Agent McGee can be in this discussion," Kate said.

The skipper nodded in understanding.

"Very well. If you would excuse us, Agent DiNozzo, Agent McGee," he said.

"Why don't you go and force Tim to eat something," Kate said, smiling. "The skipper will take care of me."

"As if you need that," Tony said. "Come on, Tim. We'll go and see what you can choke down."

"I'm not feeling sick, Tony. I'm just not hungry," Tim said.

They walked away still bickering. Kate shook her head. They really were like children sometimes, but she would be glad to get back to working with them again. Then, she followed the skipper inside the room.

"What is it?"

"I think I know why Rossi and Paulson were killed."

"Why?"

"Because of what we're carrying on board. I think someone is here to steal it and he was using Rossi and Paulson to do it."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Timothy, you really should eat _something_. I think you should be cautious and not eat anything heavy or difficult to digest, but considering you have not eaten all day and what you did eat didn't stay in your stomach..."

"Okay, okay," Tim said. "I hate that you all keep acting like I'm an invalid. Right now, my only problem is that I'm tired but I can't sleep. That's it."

"Just eat something and we'll stop pestering you, Probie," Tony said.

"Fine."

Tim sat down and began to eat the meal that Ducky had chosen for him.

"What did Caitlin say when she decided to speak to Captain Jones?" Ducky asked as Tim ate.

"She said that she'd figured out why Rossi and Paulson were killed," Tony said.

"Why?" Gibbs asked.

"She wouldn't tell us," Tim said between bites.

"And when we got to the skipper, she said that she couldn't talk about it in front of us."

"Curious," Ducky said. "It must be something of a classified nature. I can't imagine why else she would be reluctant."

"She said it had nothing to do with a fight over a woman," Tim added.

"Well, we had already guessed that, hadn't we?" Ducky asked.

"Yeah, but she didn't seem to be guessing anymore," Tony said. "It was a certainty."

"I suppose she'll tell us when she can. Hopefully soon."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Captain Jones looked surprised at the suggestion and a little skeptical.

"Why would you guess that, Agent Todd?"

"I kept coming back to the name that Rossi and Paulson had given. Deirdre Lee Mason. She doesn't exist and never did. That means that there has to be a reason why they had that name."

"But that could be anything. All that requires is that they coordinated the name they used."

"True, but there's something in that name," Kate said.

"What?"

"The initials."

She watched as the skipper thought about it and she saw the moment he understood.

"Deirdre Lee Mason," he said slowly. "DLM."

Kate nodded. "Directed Laser-guided Missile."

"How could our killer have known about the exercises? Not even all the crew know what the exercises were going to be about. How could he have found out?"

"How does anyone engaged in espionage find out about something new?" Kate asked. "He did it and he got Rossi and Paulson to help. Maybe they decided that it had gone too far and they couldn't keep helping him or maybe he just decided they had become dead weight. Either way, that would explain a stowaway on board. It would explain why Rossi and Paulson were killed. And if I'm right..."

"Then, we have an even bigger problem on our hands."

"And it's even more important to find out who this person is."

"Agreed."

"We do have a related problem, though," Kate added.

"What's that?"

"The reason for these exercises is classified and the NCIS team has not been read in," Kate said. "I think they need to know at least what the motivating factor likely is."

"You know, Agent Todd, I wish that this really had just been some stupid love triangle gone wrong," Captain Jones said with a sigh. "All right. I agree that they need to be aware of the broad strokes. No details."

"Of course not. I'll leave it to you to tell them what you think is necessary."

"Good. We should do it now. The sooner we can get this in hand, the better."

"I agree."

They walked together back to the NCIS team quarters. When they were admitted, Kate let the skipper run the show. It was his responsibility.

"I realize that it's late," the skipper began. "But we may have a bigger problem than just the murder of Seaman Rossi and Seaman Paulson."

"What's the problem?" Gibbs asked.

"The storm put off some exercises we had planned. Those exercises were, in part, to test a new laser-guided missile. The capabilities are classified and not even all the crew know what the purpose of these exercises is supposed to be."

"Rossi and Paulson are involved in this somehow?" Tim asked.

"No. They're simply crew members."

"But they're crew members," Tim said, in understanding. "They could get someone on board...someone who wanted to know more about this missile."

"What made you think of this, Kate?" Tony asked.

"Deirdre Lee Mason."

"The woman who doesn't exist," Tony said.

"Yes," Kate said, smiling. "But her initials are the same as the abbreviation for this missile."

"You think they were talking about her as a cover," Tony said. "That would really be a pretty good one. Who was going to check out whether or not a woman they both claimed to be in love with really existed?"

"Exactly."

"So how does this change what we need to do?" Tim asked.

"It doesn't really," the skipper said, "but it does add some urgency to what we're doing. We can't afford to let a stowaway get off the ship. Who knows whether or not he's got what he wants already?"

Tim stood up suddenly.

"Well, then, I should get back to the facial recognition program I installed. I'd feel more confident if I was right there to deal with any problems."

"Are you sure about that, Agent McGee?" Captain Jones asked. "You've been up for quite a while."

"And I'll be up all night, thanks to Commander Wood's cure for my seasickness," Tim said, smiling a little. "Maybe I'll fall asleep at the computer, but right now, I'm really awake. Is there anything else we need to know?"

"Not that I can think of right now. We're finally getting through this storm. I think, by tomorrow, we'll be able to do a final check to see if we can salvage anything else from the _Toka_ and then resume our course."

"Will you still be doing the exercises?" Gibbs asked.

"No. Once we had to stop them, they were scrapped completely. We'll reschedule another time, but it will have to wait until after we know just who this person is."

They all nodded and Tim started for the door, still doing things just a bit too fast to be natural.

"Agent McGee, do you know your way back?"

Tim stopped and looked a little sheepish. "Probably not."

"All right. Agent Gibbs, do you have any more questions for me?"

"No. That's all."

"Then, I'll take you to the security center, Agent McGee."

"Thanks, Captain Jones."

They left the room.

"Well, Ducky?" Kate asked.

Ducky smiled. "Timothy had something to eat and while he's still too awake, I forced him to let me check his vital signs and he's fine. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he does fall asleep at the computer."

"But once the medication wears off, won't he be back to where he started?"

"Very likely, although, sometimes, there is a lessening of symptoms if one doesn't realize that the seasickness should be back. Now, I doubt that Timothy will completely avoid it, but the return might be gradual enough that he won't get back to the same dramatic symptoms."

"Good. Well, I'm tired, even if Tim isn't. I need some shut-eye."

"I will walk you back to your quarters," Ziva said.

"It's not necessary, Ziva," Kate said.

"The skipper said, Kate," Tony said. "And we might as well not take the chance."

"All right, all right."

"And someone will come to get you in the morning," Gibbs added.

"Are you really going to go that far, Gibbs?"

Gibbs just raised an eyebrow.

"All right." She smiled. "Don't come too early."

"0700."

Kate and Ziva walked to Kate's quarters.

"Thanks, Ziva."

"We do not want anything to happen to you," Ziva said.

"I really doubt that I was actually targeted. I think it was just that I happened to be there."

"Even so."

Kate smiled and patted Ziva on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. You can't get rid of me that easily, and if it will make you feel better, my door will be locked. I'm going to sleep like a log tonight."

"Good. See you in the morning."

Kate nodded and went into her small space. She quickly got ready for bed and was more than happy to get to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Have you seen McGee yet?" Gibbs asked, first thing in the morning.

"Nope. I'm assuming either he's still staring at the computer screen or he really did finally fall asleep," Tony said.

"Go check."

"Aye aye, sir," Tony said, grinning.

Gibbs just looked at him.

"It's kinda catchy, isn't it?"

"No."

Tony just left and got back to the security center with only a couple of wrong turns. He had to admit (to himself only) that Kate really did seem in her element here. She knew her way around. It was clear that she had the respect of the the skipper as well as the crew. Even CMC Easton wasn't really bothered by her, more by his own reaction to her. He hoped that she'd still come back at the end of this year. He really had missed having her around.

When he got into the security center, he grinned. Tim was absolutely out, drooling on his hands.

One of the ensigns saw his expression.

"He was like that when I came on duty, sir, but Ensign Wallach said that he was awake most of the night, never looking away from the computer."

"Figures."

Tony walked over and nudged Tim.

"Hey, McGee, rise and shine."

Tim made a couple of strange noises but didn't really wake up.

"Tim, you're embarrassing NCIS by talking in your sleep. Wait until I tell..."

Before he'd even finished, Tim was sitting up and looking around blearily.

"Hey, McGee," Tony said again.

"Tony... What time is it?"

"0710 hours," Tony said. "Ship time, of course. How much sleep did you get?"

Tim groaned. "Not enough, but I slept."

"Find anything?"

"Not yet."

"Well, have a break. Stretch your legs and you can get back to it."

Tim nodded and got up. They walked out of the security center and Tim was trying to wake himself up. Tony thought that, maybe, some time in the actual open air might help. So without saying anything, he changed their course to go back to the crime scene. If he was wrong, well, Tim would probably start throwing up again, but they could always see if the regular stuff would work or if Tim was willing to be wide awake again.

They got back to the crime scene and Tim suddenly took a deep breath.

"Wow. I feel like I haven't really been able to breathe since we got here," he said, closing his eyes.

The storm was still in force, but not to the same degree it had been.

"Well, you want to look around and see if we missed anything? I'd love to tell Kate that we found something she didn't."

Tim smiled.

"Who knows how long I'll be useful."

"Hey, if you stop thinking about it, you'll be better off," Tony said. "Let's look around."

"Right."

They started searching around the space, getting wet but not really minding that. In fact, they probably searched more thoroughly just because it let them be outside.

And then, just as Tony was about to say that they should go back in and get to work for real, he caught a glint of something in a crevice.

"McGee. Over here."

Tim walked over.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. I think it's something."

"I didn't bring any gloves. Did you?"

"Always be prepared, McScout," Tony said, pulling a pair of gloves out of his pocket.

He wouldn't admit it to Tim, but this was simply a stroke of luck. He actually wasn't sure why he had a pair of gloves in his pocket, but he was glad to have them. Quickly, he pulled them on and fished down in the crevice.

What he pulled out was better than just something.

"Probie, I think we might have our murder weapon," he said.

"I think you're probably right," Tim said. "I doubt there will be any blood left on it, though, not after a few days of exposure to the rain."

"Doesn't matter. It's here in our crime scene and it's a nasty one. Definitely not standard Navy issue. Maybe something got trapped in the serrations."

"Maybe."

"I'll take the credit, don't worry."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all," Tim said.

"Hey, I found it, not you."

"What happened to there being no _I_ in _team_?"

"That's just spelling, Probie. Has nothing to do with reality."

Tim just rolled his eyes and then watched as Tony lucked out again in having a small evidence bag in his pocket. The knife almost didn't fit, but he managed to get it in.

"Ha. Let's go," he said.

"All right."

They headed back inside and to their quarters. Kate and Ziva were just going in as well.

"Look what _I_ found," Tony said, grinning at Tim.

"You?" Kate asked.

"He really did," Tim said. "He's not lying. This time."

"I never lie about evidence."

"Don't go there, Tony," Tim said.

Gibbs looked at them all and raised an eyebrow.

"Found it stuck in a crevice at the crime scene, Boss," Tony said. "Looks like it could be our murder weapon."

"Doesn't look like anything is left on it, though," Kate said.

"Yeah, but it's something. There could be prints, if we're lucky. And Ducky could see if it matches the wound patterns."

"Where _is_ Ducky?" Tim asked.

"Back with Commander Wood," Kate said. "He wanted to check out the bodies again."

Ziva was just staring at the knife in silence.

"What is it, Ziva?" Tim asked.

"One of yours?" Tony asked.

Ziva rolled her eyes. "No, but there was a reason that someone decided to search your office, Kate."

Kate nodded in understanding. "The killer must have thought we found it already and was trying to get it back. Worth checking for prints, even if it doesn't pan out."

"So because Ziva says something, it's worth checking out, but when I..."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and gave Tony a light swat on the head.

"Thanks, Boss. Focusing."

"McGee, find anything?" Gibbs asked.

Tim shook his head.

"No. Not yet. It's a lot of people to look through and all over the ship and..." He stopped. "And you don't care about that."

"How are you feeling?" Kate asked.

"Don't ask and maybe I can pretend," Tim said.

"Well, then, you should have something to eat before getting back to the computers," Kate said.

"I don't know if I should risk that."

"I do. You should."

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

CMC Easton came into the room.

"The skipper wants an update," he said.

"We may have found the murder weapon," Kate said.

Tony held up the knife. "Do you recognize it?"

CMC Easton walked closer so that he could examine it.

"No. Definitely not. If any of the crew have a knife like this... This is a hunting knife, not one for use at sea."

"You a knife expert, Chief Easton?" Tony asked.

"Not an expert, but I do know knives. This is a karambit. The curved blade, the multiple cutting surfaces. Definitely not standard for the Navy," he said. "And that's an expensive knife, not one that you'd carry around for show...not without bleeding for it."

"How expensive?" Kate asked.

"I've seen some for over a thousand dollars."

"Wow," Tim said. "Just for a knife?"

"Yes."

"Okay, that definitely points us even more to someone not part of the crew."

"It would seem that way to me," CMC Easton said. "Anything else?"

"I'm going to get back to the program," Tim said, standing up.

"After you eat something," Kate said.

Tim sat back down.

"Yes, ma'am."

Kate rolled her eyes but smiled.

"As soon as we know anything else, Chief," she said.

"Thank you, Agent Todd."

He left the room.

"Now, I'm going to get you something to eat and _then_ you can go back to work," Kate said, severely.

"You're acting so maternal, Kate," Tony said. "You'd think that..."

"I have no desire to know what you're thinking, Tony," Kate said, rolling her eyes again.

"Ah, I'm hurt."

"You'll get over it."

It didn't take long for Kate to get something simple and easily digested for Tim to eat. All the better, since no one really thought there was a good chance of Tim avoiding his seasickness just from one dose, even of a strong medication.

"Okay. That's all I'm eating, just in case. I'm going to get back to work," Tim said.

Kate just smiled and gestured. Tim left, still on his own two feet. If he was starting to feel nauseous, he wasn't admitting to it yet.

After he was gone, Kate suddenly got a look on her face that said she was thinking about something.

"What's up?" Tony asked.

"Tony, could you show me exactly where you found that knife?"

"Don't you trust me?"

"With some things," Kate said, smiling. "I just want to see if I can reconstruct what happened. If our killer is as good as he has seemed to be, why did he drop the murder weapon?"

"Everyone can make a mistake," Ziva said.

"I know, but why that one?"

"Well, I can show you where it was. No problem."

"Good. Thanks."

Tony willingly led the way back to the crime scene and showed Kate the space. She stood where she was, looking around, trying to put things together. Tony knew that sometimes Kate took intuitive leaps. They didn't always pan out, but sometimes they did and he was willing to wait and see how this one turned out.

"Ensign Johnson didn't get a chance to open the door before the man we presume is the killer came through it. Something spooked him enough to get him running," Kate said. "He'd already hidden the bodies under the tarp, but the tarp wasn't fully secured. So he got interrupted, but it wasn't by Ensign Johnson."

"This was after the rogue wave?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. A few hours, though. But it was about the height of the storm," Kate said. She looked him. "You're thinking another wave?"

"Well, think about it. Look at how high up we are here."

"Probably at least thirty or forty feet above the water line," Kate said.

"So who would expect this place to get swamped? A wave comes up and hits him as he's hiding the bodies. ...but why not just dump them overboard?"

"Missing crew would still prompt an investigation," Kate said. "And a search of the entire carrier. A stowaway wouldn't want that."

Tony nodded.

"So a wave comes up here and hits our killer while he's hiding the bodies. It surprises him enough that he loses the murder weapon. He figures he'd better get out of there before another wave takes him overboard. He opens the door and runs into Ensign Johnson."

"It fits," Tony said.

"It does. So now, we think we know what happened. We think we know _why_ it happened."

"But who did it?"

"Yeah. I really hope Tim's program works. The storm is almost over and we'll have to get underway. We can't afford to stay out here indefinitely."

"What about the _Toka_?"

"Lost," Kate said, grimly. "They did what they could, but we're in deep water here, at least 10,000 feet. Any of the crew who didn't get off won't be recovered, and the _Toka_ herself is a complete loss. Actually, while this isn't the way I'd choose to be distracted, I'm glad I had something to keep me from thinking about it."

"About what?"

"About the fact that an entire ship is gone and the only thing keep me from the same fate is this huge mass of metal." Kate shuddered a little. "That rogue wave was like nothing I've ever seen before, Tony. I'm glad I saw it once, but I'd be happy never to see it again and I hope I'm not on anything smaller than an aircraft carrier if I do."

"So you're not going to move aboard ship permanently?"

Kate smiled and shook off her somber mood. "People keep asking me that. I'd almost think that you guys really do miss me."

"You know we do, Kate."

"Well, thanks, Tony. No, I'm not moving aboard ship. I'll be happy to hand the reins back to Stan in another six months, but this is an experience I'm glad I've had," she said, turning to look back out at the ocean.

Tony joined her. The sky was still dark and threatening. The rain still fell. The waves were large and choppy.

"You get such a different view of the world when this is what you see all around you," she said softly.

"Yeah," Tony said. Then, not wanting to stay so serious, he grinned. "You really know that the earth three-quarters ocean."

Kate rolled her eyes for a third time and elbowed him, but not very hard.

"All right, DiNozzo. Let's get back to work."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And don't do that. It might go to my head," Kate said, but she smiled.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Seaman Bowman had never realized just how little he was going to be able to see the outside world when he'd enlisted in the Navy. Traveling around the world seemed like a great thing. And he _was_ doing that.

It was just that he rarely got to _see_ anything. He was assigned to the engine room, about as low on the carrier as possible. He almost never got the chance to get up on deck. Occasionally, he'd sneak off to one of the outside areas during his break time, but so much of the space that actually was outdoors was full of activity that he didn't always get that chance.

Now, as he headed down to assume his duties, he grimaced at the thought that sometimes popped into his head.

 _I'm below the waterline. If we take on water, I'm the first to go._

It wasn't a pleasant thought and he tried to push it away, but it came to mind far too often.

 _Maybe I'm not really suited to this._

But whether he was or not, it wasn't like he could stop doing it while they were in the middle of the Atlantic.

So he determinedly squared his shoulders and got to work.

He took his position and prepared for a hopefully-boring few hours.

But this was not his lucky day.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

After another couple of hours, Tony and Ziva went back to the medical center to chat with Ducky, but Kate and Gibbs decided to check on Tim and see what progress he'd made, if any.

As they walked together toward the security center, there was no conversation. Kate felt a little awkward, but she wasn't about to admit to that, not to Gibbs, and not on the ship where anyone might hear.

"You coming back after this?"

Kate suppressed a smile. The third or fourth time someone had asked her.

"You mean after my next six months?"

"Yeah.

"That's my plan, unless you have other ideas."

"Nope."

"Good."

Another period of silence, broken only by sailors headed to and from their various posts.

"Not the same without you."

Kate couldn't help but smile this time. That was positively effusive for Gibbs.

"Is that good or bad?"

Gibbs just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, Stan is still planning on coming back here after the next six months. So I'll be stepping aside."

"Good."

They reached the security center and found Tim hard at work...but with a bucket beside him. It didn't appear to have been used. Kate looked over at Lt. Lyons who was currently supervising the center and raised an eyebrow.

"Any problems?" she asked.

He tried not to smile but only partially succeeded.

"Not yet. He said that it would be a good idea to have it ready, just in case. Last thing he said before he started working. Haven't had a word from him since."

"No surprise there," Kate said.

Tim's eyes were flicking rapidly back and forth, apparently scanning the cameras himself as the view switched from camera to camera.

"I've seen sailors get in the zone, but this is in a different class."

"Agent McGee knows his stuff," Kate said.

She walked over and sat down beside Tim.

"How's it going, Tim?"

No response. Gibbs was clearly not feeling particularly patient. He stalked over and tapped Tim on the back of the head. Tim jumped and looked back at Gibbs and then at Kate.

"Yeah? What is it?" he asked.

"Find anything?" Kate asked.

"Not yet. I've eliminated a lot of people. Each person that's eliminated is one less face the program has to identify, but still it..."

There was a beep.

"Is that a hit?" Kate asked, eagerly.

"Maybe. It's a face that the program isn't recognizing, but it could still just be a bad angle or..."

Two more beeps.

Tim leaned farther forward and started typing. A man in uniform was currently walking through a hallway. There was a flashing square around his face every time it was toward a camera.

"What camera is this?" Kate asked.

"I'm not sure. There have been so many I've been looking at that..."

" _Be_ sure, McGee," Gibbs said.

"Being sure, Boss," Tim said.

Then, the man went through a door and...

"Oh, no. Where is that?" Tim asked.

"Engine room," Kate said. She turned to the lieutenant. "Lt. Lyons, inform the skipper that we've spotted our stowaway and are on our way to engage. Currently, we're headed toward the engine room."

"Yes, ma'am."

The three of them hurried out of the security center.

"I hope we're not too late," Kate said.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Seaman Bowman sighed a little. Time passed very slowly when all one had to do was watch a bunch of dials. He didn't particularly _want_ excitement since that would mean something was going wrong with the engines but still this wasn't very thrilling. He nodded vaguely at another sailor who came into the area and then turned back to the gauges.

Suddenly, there was an arm around his neck, holding him so tightly he almost couldn't breathe.

"If you want to live through the next five minutes, you'll do exactly as I say. Understand?" came a harsh whisper.

"I understand," Seaman Bowman said, softly.

"Good. Now, we're going to take a walk. Don't even _think_ about trying to signal someone."

"I can't leave my post."

"You will one way or another. Know what I mean?"

Seaman Bowman felt a circle of metal press against his neck.

"Understood."

"Good. Let's go."

"Yes, sir."

As they walked, Seaman Bowman wasn't sure what to do. Was this a terrorist? He hadn't got a good look at the man, not really. If it was a terrorist, then, he shouldn't do anything that he was told to do...but at the same time, if he got killed, what would happen to to the rest of the ship?

"Take me to the missile bays."

Seaman Bowman started to take a step in the appropriate direction, hoping that the fact that they'd go someplace with more people would get him out of this, but the man jerked him backward.

"Not those. You have an experimental missile on board this bucket. It's not going to be in with the usual artillery."

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about, sir," Seaman Bowman said. "This is only my first deployment."

"And you're going to pretend you don't know your way around here?"

"I do, but I don't know anything about..."

He was jerked backwards again.

"Enough. I don't care what you don't know. If you can't take me where I want to go, then, I'll just kill you and get on with it. You won't be the first person to die at my hands. Got it?"

This must be the man who killed Rossi and Paulson! What now?

Still, Seaman Bowman didn't see that he had much choice at this point. He knew that there was an area that was generally restricted to most of the crew, so he started that way. If there was something secret on board, that would be the place for it. And maybe someone would be there and get him out of this. The man moved the gun down to his waist, but that didn't matter. He could still feel it poking at him.

He had got closer to the restricted area than he really wanted to be when suddenly, the arm was back around his neck and the gun was at his head.

"I can hear you!" the man said. "I've already killed twice on this ship. I'll do it again!"

Seaman Bowman was jerked around just as the NCIS Agent Afloat stepped into view, her gun raised and pointing at them both.

"Seaman, are you all right?" Kate asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Shut up," his captor snarled. "If you want him to stay that way..."

"If you shoot him, you're dead," Kate said, very grimly. "The only thing holding me back at the moment is your hostage. Once you've got him out of the way, I won't hesitate. You've got to decide what you want to do more. Kill or live?"

Seaman Bowman had never spoken to the NCIS agent before, but he'd never make the mistake of thinking she was soft like some of the crew did. There was nothing soft about her right now. She was scary.

Then, he heard something from behind him. There was a lot of noise down near the engine room, but he'd long since learned to filter that out, and he was sure that he'd heard someone else behind him. He looked at Agent Todd, trying to ask for something without saying anything or cluing his captor into something being different.

Kate didn't even seem to look at him.

"You're running out of time," Kate said, raising her gun slightly.

"Are you fast enough to take me down?" the man asked.

"Are you willing to risk the possibility that I am?" Kate asked.

Then, from behind them.

"Drop your weapon."

There was a minuscule loosening of the arm around his neck and the gun pulled away from his head.

"Seaman, hit the deck!" Kate shouted.

Throwing caution to the winds, Seaman Bowman threw his head back and hit his captor in the face and then pulled away and dropped to the deck, arms over his head. He might even have closed his eyes.

He heard gunfire and then felt a weight hit the deck...and his own legs.

"Got him?"

"Got him," Kate said. "Seaman, are you all right?"

Seaman Bowman was surprised to realize that he was. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and looked up at the agent. She was smiling now, and seemed like a totally different person, almost.

"Yes, ma'am."

"You must have a hard head then," she said.

"That's what my momma always told me."

Kate chuckled and let out a loud exhale.

He looked back and saw his captor dead on the deck. Two other NCIS agents were bent over him, checking him out.

He started to stand and then accepted Kate's hand as he stood.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Seaman Charles Bowman, ma'am. I was on duty in the engine room."

"Yes, we know. I'm glad we weren't too late."

"He said he'd killed people already. Did he mean Rossi and Paulson?"

"Very likely. Did he say anything else? What did he want from you?"

"I was supposed to lead him to..." Then, Seaman Bowman hesitated. "He said that there was an experimental missile on board, ma'am, that it was being stored in one of the missile bays in the restricted area. Is he right?"

"So he wanted you to show him where it might be?"

"Yes, ma'am, but I don't know anything about that, ma'am."

"Need to know, Seaman Bowman...and you don't."

"Yes, ma'am. What now?"

"Now, we clean up this mess. You give a report and then you can brag to your buddies that you helped bring down a stowaway and murderer."

"Did I do that, ma'am?"

Kate smiled. "Yes, you did."

"Wow." Then, he realized that his post was still vacant. "I should get back to my post, ma'am."

"Very true, Seaman Bowman, but only until we can get someone there to take your place. We'll need you to make a full report both to me and to the skipper."

"Of course, ma'am."

"All right. Return to your post."

"Yes, ma'am."

Seaman Bowman walked back to his post and stood there for a few seconds. He'd only been gone for a few minutes.

The gauges hadn't moved at all.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"That was good work, Kate," Tony said. "Talk about quick planning."

"Had to be," Kate said. "If he'd already killed twice, I didn't want him to have a chance to make it an uneven three."

"Too bad he's dead, though," Tim said. "I mean, we had to shoot him, but now, we won't be able to ask who he was working for."

Tony waved his hand in the air at that.

"Eh, you'll do some magic computer voodoo and come up with his whole history, down to the name of his pet raccoon in third grade."

"Raccoon?" Tim repeated.

"He's a weird guy. What can I say?"

Tim groaned.

Suddenly, Kate grinned. "It'll be just like on dry land. We can get Ducky down here to check out the body."

"Well, we know what happened to this guy," Tony said.

"Still need to document it, DiNozzo," Gibbs said.

And they did. It was pretty simple, but it was thorough. Seaman Bowman gave his full report and was also enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame because of his part in stopping the killer. Commander Wood helped get their killer's body stored until they could get it transferred back to land. They sent what they could to Abby so she could start the processing of figuring out who he was. Kate and Gibbs briefed the skipper on what had happened, detailing all the decisions that had led to confrontation. Tim had started feeling nauseous again, but with the seas beginning to calm, his usual dramamine made him drowsy but kept him from throwing up. In fact, he had missed most of the reporting on everything because Ducky had intervened and forced Tim to take a rest after his long hours without any sleep and he had fallen asleep as soon as he lay down in their quarters.

But then, it was just a matter of waiting until the seas calmed enough that they could get the C-2 to transport them back.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"So, what's the bottom line on Rossi and Paulson?" Captain Jones asked.

"They were almost certainly involved in getting the killer on board," Kate said. "There's little question of that, given the arguments they were having and the manner in which they were killed. But it's possible that they were having second thoughts and that's what the argument was about. If that's the case, then, they were deciding what to do and when the killer heard them, he decided to get rid of them and get off the ship himself."

The skipper nodded. "And it's also possible that they were just arguing about how much money they were going to get."

"True. But since all three are dead, we have no way of verifying that."

"That being the case, I see no reason to ruin their reputations or hurt their families by bringing it up. It's bad enough that they were murdered."

"I agree," Kate said.

"Good. Then, we'll have the official reports with NCIS, but as far as the media is concerned, the focus will be on the man himself and I hope he gets identified soon."

"I hope so, too," Kate said. "When will the C-2 be getting here?"

"Tomorrow at 0700 hours. The bodies and all the evidence will be transported along with the NCIS team. Hopefully, we can get back to normal."

"Yes," Kate said, but she did feel an unexpected pang of homesickness that she'd not had the entire time she'd been aboard. There was a part of her that wanted to stow away on the transport and go back to D.C.

"Planning on joining them, Agent Todd?"

Kate grinned. "No. Not seriously anyway. I have six more months and you'll get my best work. No less."

"Glad to hear it. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir," Kate said.

She left the skipper to his work while she headed to her office to check through the tasks that she should have been doing if it hadn't been for the deaths of Rossi and Paulson.

It was nearly the end of the case and with that end, her friends would be leaving the group and things really would get back to normal aboard ship.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

By 0800 the next morning, everything was on board and it was time to say good-bye. Kate was with the team on the flight deck to see them off.

"Gibbs, thanks for coming," she said. "I couldn't have done this without all your help."

Gibbs just nodded and got on board. Ducky was more effusive (of course).

"Caitlin, it's been a joy to see you again. Do keep in touch and you can bet that we'll be there to greet you at the end of your assignment," he said, giving her a hug.

"Thanks, Ducky. It was great to see you, too."

"We're going to have such a party when you get back, Kate," Tony said.

"Don't you dare," Kate said.

"I'll keep him in line," Tim promised.

"Yeah, right, McGreen. You'd better get aboard before you throw up again."

"Shut up," Tim said.

But he hugged Kate quickly and said in a low voice.

"He's more right than I wish he was. Sorry I was so puky."

Kate just laughed.

"Thanks for toughing it out, Tim. Couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, you could have, but my way was faster," Tim said and winked. Then, he grimaced as the carrier shook just a little bit. The waves had calmed significantly, but they were still higher than usual and every so often a larger one hit the carrier. "Bye."

"Bye, Tim."

Ziva came to say her good-byes as well, but Kate had one last thing she wanted to say.

"Talk to Vance, Ziva," Kate said. "If you explain yourself, he'll listen. He may not be able to do what you want, but at least, he'll know that you really don't want to leave. That matters."

"It will not matter to Director Vance if it is about hearing me or my father," Ziva said.

"Yes, it will. Trust him, Ziva. Give him a chance to hear you. He can't if you don't speak."

Then, Kate hugged Ziva and watched as they all got on board. She gave a final wave and got out of the way. She watched from a safe place as the C-2 took off without a hitch and she took a deep breath before heading back to her little office.

Back to work. There were still another six months to go.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

 _Six months later..._

It had been days since she'd had the chance to get outside and look out at the ocean, but the wait was worth it. It always was. It was sunset and the lingering clouds created beautiful orange and pink patterns to the darkening sky. It was gorgeous.

"I thought I might find you here. May I join you?"

Kate jumped a little and looked back. She smiled and nodded as Commander Wood walked over to stand beside her. For a few minutes, he just stood looking out at the ocean with her. Kate wondered what was going on, but she didn't feel the need to push it.

"What can I do for you, Commander?" she asked.

"Nothing at all, Agent Todd. I would like to thank you, though."

"For what?"

"For reminding me of this," he said, pointing out at the sky. "It's easy to forget it when you live and work in a space without windows. Sometimes, I've gone an entire voyage without once stepping out into the open air, but I've noticed that you often make the time to do it. Not everyone _can_ do that, of course, but I could. Your enthusiasm for the new experiences you've had on board is infectious."

Kate blushed a little.

"You make me sound like a kid in a candy store."

"Precisely. Everything was new and exciting. Although perhaps not always delicious."

Kate laughed.

"But I've been in the Navy for all of my adult life. I enlisted initially because they paid for my medical school and that's no small chunk of change. I had to give them a few years of service after that, but by that time, it had become the life I wanted instead of paying back money. I'm not in combat, but I take care of those who are. It's meaningful to me, but sometimes, I forget how to enjoy what I've got. ...and that's usually the time that someone comes into my sphere who reminds me of that. This time, it was you and I always try to be grateful for those who help, even if it's unknowingly. So thank you, Agent Todd."

"Well, it was definitely unknowing, but you're welcome."

She shook Commander Wood's hand.

"So, your last days at sea. Has it been worth it?"

"Yes," Kate said, fervently. "This wasn't something I was sure I wanted, but even though I'm glad to be getting back, it's an experience I've loved having. It's been eye-opening at the very least."

"Well, I've heard that we've been promised that Agent Burley will be coming back here, but it's been a pleasure having you as our Agent Afloat."

"It's been a pleasure being here."

After a few more minutes of companionable silence, Commander Wood excused himself and left Kate to her solitary contemplation.

Alone again, she smiled as she looked out over the ocean. No, this hadn't been an opportunity she'd sought for, but she was glad she'd got it.

Now, her time was almost over. She couldn't see land yet. She couldn't see the port at Norfolk.

But she knew her friends would be there waiting for her.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

 _Three days later..._

Kate had all her gear packed up and she lugged it to the gangway. They'd got into port late in the night and she hadn't been able to resist getting prepared for her departure. She'd still have assignments for the next few weeks. Making reports, coordinating with Stan as he prepared to ship out, having her debriefing with the NCIS agent at Norfolk. But this would be her first time on solid ground in weeks.

"Eager to go ashore, are you, Agent Todd?" Captain Jones asked.

Kate smiled.

"Just a little bit, skipper. You know, I never truly understood how stir crazy some sailors get when they get into port until I was at sea with them."

"Nothing like a little experience."

"Exactly. Permission to go ashore?"

"Reluctantly... permission granted."

Then, Captain Jones shook her hand firmly and Kate grabbed all her gear. She lugged it down the gangway and smiled widely. Unlike when she had first boarded the HST a year ago, she had quite a gathering there to see her. The whole NCIS team, plus Abby, Ducky, Jimmy and Stan. Abby began waving enthusiastically.

"Kate! Welcome back!" she shouted.

Kate made her way down the gangway and onto solid ground. Once she dumped her stuff on the ground, she was enveloped in a number of hugs. She returned them all happily. Then, she saw Stan and gave him a hug, too.

"Ready, Stan?" she asked, in a low voice.

"You have no idea," he said, grinning. "I wish they weren't going to be stuck in port for the next two months."

"Well, Captain Jones said that we'd be working together until you ship out."

"Can't think of a better way to spend my time."

His arms tightened around her just for a second and then he let her go. Kate felt her cheeks warm just a little bit, but then, it was back to celebrating. Kate got herself situated in some temporary housing and then it was out to dinner with the group. They talked and laughed until long into the night.

"So, Caitlin, now that you're back, how do you feel about the experience?" Ducky asked as the time began to wind down.

"I'm glad I did it," Kate said. "I feel like I learned a lot and that I had a chance to see more than I ever could have before." Then, she smiled. "And I gained a greater appreciation for what I have here, too."

"So you're going to go back to your usual place?" Tony asked. "That's good. Ziva doesn't let me throw things at her. I'm afraid that she'll kill me."

"When did I _ever_ let you throw something at me, Tony?"

"Hmmm... There's got to be one time. Hey! There was! You were throwing straws or something at me one evening!"

"I don't remember," Kate said.

"Ha. I'll bet you do."

"Will you be all right with going back to answering to someone else?" Ziva asked.

"Of course. It's a lot easier to answer to Gibbs than to an entire carrier," Kate said, grinning at Gibbs.

"I don't know about that," Tony said, rubbing the back of his head.

Kate laughed and the party broke up. They went their separate ways with Kate promising to be in D.C. as soon as she could. Then, she and Stan were walking together back to the temporary base housing.

"You had quite a bit of excitement during your assignment," Stan said.

"Yeah. That last storm was a doozy."

"And you really saw a rogue wave."

"Yes," Kate said, nodding firmly. "I can't believe it, but it happened."

"I'm envious...but I'm not."

"That's how I feel, too. How are things going for you?"

"Good. I was there to help out with everything that came after Mom died and I think I managed to convince my family that I'm not rejecting them."

"That's good. So you're really ready to ship out?"

Stan nodded.

"I've been missing the ocean."

"I never understood why you love it so much, but I think I might have an inkling now," Kate said. "There's something about being out there where there's no escape from where you are. You just have to make do, and most do that quite well."

"No other choice," Stan said.

"Exactly."

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Stan asked.

"0800 hours?"

"I'll bring the pastry and coffee, okay?"

Kate smiled.

"Sounds wonderful. Maybe you could bring me _two_ pastries."

"Hmmm... I'll think about it."

Then, Stan leaned in and kissed Kate on the cheek.

"Welcome back, Kate."

"Thanks, Stan," Kate said, knowing that she was blushing.

She went into the small house she'd be in for the next few weeks. She was thrilled to be back. There was nothing like coming home, and even if she wasn't quite there, she would be soon.

Where would life take her next? She didn't know, but she would enjoy finding out.

FINIS!


End file.
